Power Rangers: Zero Hour
by dtm666
Summary: Volume 3 and conclusion of the Breakdown trilogy. The Countdown to Destruction begins as Dark Specter unleashes his ultimate plan to eliminate all who oppose him.
1. Fifteen

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Fifteen**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author. Also, this revision has nothing to do with the other C2D "revisions" floating out there and any similarities apparent is strictly coincidental.

**Aggravatingly Long Intro**

Zero Hour is the third and final 'volume' of the trilogy that comprised of Power Rangers Zeo: Shadow of the Dragon (the one with the Dragonzord) and Power Rangers: Breakdown (the one with the Tommy clone and unresolved cliffhanger). Anyone who has read Breakdown till the end will know that this story spills into Countdown To Destruction territory. While this will cover the events of CTD, it will not follow the established events of CTD. Some events will differ from the aired episodes, but otherwise the general plot is the same.

For all intents and purposes, I highly suggest you read Breakdown before taking a wiff at this story, as that story sets up some background for most of the events that occur in this story. If a certain event in the story is unclear, chances are it's been mentioned or happened in that story.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this revisionist version of CTD entitled Zero Hour. And I especially hope you enjoy it enough to leave a review... they're always the driving force behind speedier updates and... stuff.

---

_Previously on Power Rangers: Breakdown..._

_On cue, a loud boom sound echoed through the halls of the palace and in the sanctums of the wrecked throne room. The former Rangers looked around see what could have been causing the sounds of explosions, but were then met with slightly rumblings of the floor. It wasn't long before the ceiling of the room began to show cracks._

_"What's going on?" Kim called out._

_"The Palace is imploding," Adam realized, "We have to get out of here!"_

_"I got an idea," Thomas said, "but I'm not sure it'll work."_

_Jason was about say something, but paused when he saw Thomas pull out a small control pad with a blinking red button on top. Before anyone could react to the device, Thomas firmly pushed down the button and..._

_Jason froze in place when he found himself not in a dingy palace throne room that was about to fall apart, but aboard a space vessel. From the various containers neatly stacked and organized, he assumed that this area was the cargo hold. Nearby, Adam studied some of the container markings, which were clearly written in plain English. Before the two could ask questions, they were met with a familiar friend who had just walked in._

_"Welcome to the Megashuttle, boys," Rocky DeSantos' cheerful voice boomed, "on loan from the Space Rangers."_

_"Rocky!" Adam blurted out._

_Rocky staggered back a bit as the two Rangers stepped. The three clapsed hands with each other, knowing all is well. Jason _

_"Wait a minute," Jason said. "Something's not right."_

_Adam's jaw slightly dropped in realization. "You're right, Jason. Where's Tommy? And where's Kimberly? Shouldn't they be here too?"_

_Rocky's head hung, much to Adam and Jason's disappointment. "When the palace imploded, the shuttle's scanners showed two teleport beams caused by an unknown source, but I used the modulator or whatever it's called to bring the teleport beam here instead of wherever." He paused, not able to find other words. "I haven't found any other teleport beams."_

_Adam stared ahead at the wall. "Do you think they made it out before the palace imploded?"_

_"I hope so, Adam," Jason commented, "But now's not the time to worry. Right now, we have to get ready."_

_Both Adam and Rocky stared quizzically at the original Red Ranger. "For what?"_

_Jason's eyes met the others with great despair. "War."_

---

For the longest time imaginable, there was the war between good and evil. Fought across the many cosmos, under many grueling conditions and guises, the war has left a terrible mark on those who have fought within it. All worlds and galaxies that have been a participant in the war, directly or otherwise, had experienced the war in various forms. On Earth, there was the World Wars. On Aquitar, there was the Hydro Wars. The War of the Machinists was fought for millennia before a corrupt leader took control of the Machine Empire. However, aside from these planetary conflicts, the war of good and evil was fought spanning dozens of worlds, both sides united under the belief that the world was black and white.

Evil was the name of the game for most of the dark warlords, but none of them were united. Each warlord had their own political agendas and goals of conquest. This dissolution was the weakness that was exploited by the forces of good and light, lead by the prodigal son of Eltare, the master sage known as Zordon. It was this unity among the forces of good that has allowed them to triumph and contain the evil forces so that they would not spread.

As eons passed, the war stagnated. Warlords were busy dealing with their own internal affairs, evil beings had lost touch with the old ways, and the struggle between evil forces was not a foreign concept in modern times. The forces of good were also entrenched in their own periods of change, as their warlike methods are deeply buried and methodologies are tweaked towards peace. Over time, the jagged line between good and evil was slowly fading and the two opposites would not confront each other in an epic scale.

Well, that is... until recently.

The United Alliance of Evil started off with several warlords joined together to eliminate the opposing forces. Unlike other warlords, the Alliance maintained the old ways and caused trouble wherever they went. Treated and seen as a mercenary group, the Alliance grew over time and, under the command of Dark Specter, became a full-fledged political power that had major influence in most worlds.

The raid on Eltare and capture of Zordon was the greatest victory the Alliance had pulled off in its entire history because Specter executed his grand plan swiftly. His spies had constantly updated him on happenings on the planet and surely, there were those who were willing to sacrifice Eltare's prodigal son for a few more credits in their pockets. The timing was almost perfect in a sense, as Eltare was caught off-guard by this massive assault.

But while the Alliance touted this as their greatest victory, Specter was already working on his master plan to conquer all the worlds that oppose him. A plan this devious would take advantage of the chaos already impending in the universe. With events such as the civil war between former king Mondo and Emperor Aradon for control of the Machine Empire and the forces of good spread throughout all quadrants, desperately searching for Zordon, Specter would strike when chaos was at an impending high.

Now seemed like a good a time as any and the final touches of the plan would get underway.

The countdown to destruction has begun...

---

Her mind went fuzzy for a moment the moment she felt the strange senasation that struck mere seconds. Her reaction to the sudden collapsing of Zedd's palace was practically non-existent before it hit her. Kimberly didn't know what to make of it. It felt like a teleport, but not like any she had experienced before. The only thing that she knew was that she was nowhere near the collapsing palace, nor was she on the moon. That alone made her somewhat relieved.

Kim's nerves settled for a brief moment. The cool air struck her, but not too hard. What really surprised her was her new surroundings; an endless desert with several mountains scattered about and a pale blue sky slowly turning red. Kimberly looked around and found that she was alone; her friends were not here with her. She thought of shouting out to see if they were out there, but somehow she knew that they weren't. She looked around the desert until she saw a peculiar rock formation in the distance. It seemed odd that she would point to this formation, feeling as if she had recognized it before.

Without further delay, Kimberly preceded towards the formation slowly, climbing up the gradual slope leading to it. In between the two rocks was an open cavern, to which she entered slowly but without reservation. Kimberly looked around the cavern as she navigated the tunnel, the thick fog practically filling up to knee length. It wasn't long before Kim reached a dead end, but she pressed towards the rocky wall on her right and walked right through. She found herself in a stylized and well-preserved botanical garden with a Japanese shrine elevated on a plateau.

"This is Ninjor's Temple," she said in realization, "But why am I here?"

She slowly climbed the steps to the top of the plateau. To her surprise, she saw the blue-armored Ninja Master to whom the temple belonged to. Judging by his posture, Ninjor didn't seem surprised to see. In fact, it's almost as if she was expected to be here.

"Ninjor? Is something wrong?"

"Yes, Kimberly," Ninjor answered in a shallow version of his usually high-pitched voice, "Something is terribly wrong. Come inside. We have much to discuss."

---

She stood atop the edge of the highest cliff of Antares Prime, where the throne world of the leader of the United Alliance of Evil resided. She awaited for the demon known as Dark Specter to appear, probably to give the word to execute the final phase of his Master Plan. She didn't mind following this plan because it did not distract from her own. She would go along with this until she felt the time was right to break away and strike at the weakening leader of the Alliance. Dark Specter's goal is to eliminate all good in the universe.

But to the Kerovan human known as Astronema, the goal was bold if not small. Her campaign over the past year, designed to ensure Specter's total dominance, was disrupted by a force known as the Space Power Rangers. Just recently, she had learned that one of those Rangers was her brother Andros, thought to have been killed by the Rangers. Learning of this, she immediately defected, but was soon converted back to the dark side through technology and black magic. The result was a darker, more calculating version of the enemy the Space Rangers had been fighting the past year.

Now Astronema continued her attacks further by using five beings known as the Psycho Rangers, who had the ability to counter the Rangers' powers and become stronger. They also attacked another force, albeit indirectly, as their livelihood was periodically reduce Dark Specter's powers until he was in no condition to lead. While the Rangers managed to defeat all the Psychos, Dark Specter's power had been severely drained.

Astronema found herself facing this monstrosity of a creature, whose power was waning and it showed. He was breathing heavily, the magma blood vessels didn't have the crimson glow they have had previously, and his eyes were leaking lava tears. The cause of his weakened state was not known to him, but it was known to her. Naturally, she did not tell him as despite being weakened, he was still a formidable demon.

"Astronema." His voice was that of death, but Astronema did not flinch. "It is time for the final phase of my Master Plan. Summon all my evil forces

"It's time to end this war." Astronema called out, thrusting her staff to the sky, "Let the final battle begin."

The grand monarch of the Alliance nodded in approval and his not-so-mighty image soon faded to obscurity. Soon after, Astronema was teleported back to her flagship, the Dark Fortress, where her bodyguard and general stood, waiting to follow the commands of his princess.

"Ecliptor, assemble the troops," she commanded, her tone cold and void of emotion. "It's time to attack."

---

Territorial Defense Systems - TDS for short - are positioned along all borders surrounding the Machine Empire, designed to destroy any ship that attempts to cross the border from either side. Within the territories of the Empire, a civil war is being fought between two superpowers, vying for control of the throne. One of these superpowers was Mondo, the former ruler of the Empire - dethroned two Terran years ago after failing to conquer planet Earth, a current member of the Alliance of evil and represented within the boundaries of the civil war by his four generals.

The other superpower is a former overlord named Aradon, who was responsible for putting the final nail in the coffin of Mondo's Earth campaign by destroying his lunar colony and bringing the remains back. He was given the title of Emperor as a result and a decision of such magnitude had torn the Empire apart and into brutal conflict. He remains active in the war, while Mondo fights from outside.

The TDS turrets were of Aradon's design, made to keep outside forces from interfering in what was clearly an internal Machine affair. Naturally, the designers were so focused on the offensive capabilities of the TDS that no one had bothered to reinforce the delicate armor plating of the TDS. Of course, no one dared tried to fire upon these turrets in fear of retaliation.

Until now...

---

The large ceremonial chamber of the Dark Fortress was normally a training facility with several Quantrons and hired troops at most occupying it. This time, the chamber was filled with practically tens of thousands of troops. Some were Astronema's own Quantrons, others were Piranhatrons on loan, and there were few black-armored Cogs in presence. All stood in attention as they looked up at their leader Astronema, standing on the high balcony above the troops. On her right side stood Ecliptor and on her left was Darkonda, a mercenary for hire who had been a thorn on the side of both the Space Rangers and Ecliptor. Darkonda would co-operate with Astronema's grand plan and assist her... for now. All were attentive as the upstart princess spoke out, her voice echoing through the chamber for all to hear.

"Today is an important day in the history of the universe! Today is the day that the forces of good shall be no more and that evil shall reign supreme!"

A loud applause from the troops erupted the massive chamber, and soon settled when Astronema raised a hand, silencing them almost instantly.

"Today is a pivotal chapter in the Alliance Wars. As we speak, other alliance members are either preparing to strike or are strike at random planets. There has been word of one-sided victories, worlds claimed, even worlds destroyed. Make no mistake; we are superior, we are stronger, we are larger, but don't let that go through your heads. Victory is inevitable, but defeat is certainly, if not microscopically, possible. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

"Our target, specifically, is the planet Earth. The same planet that is defended by the Power Rangers. Yes, they have defeated other powers in the past, and they have managed to gain few victories over us, but now they're weakened. The past several attacks had stripped them of their arsenal and their morale is at an all-time low. Add to the fact that their world is not technologically advanced.

"When this war ends, there won't be a shred of light in this universe. No love, no happiness, no peace, no unity, no companionship, no hope! Instead, there will be chaos, corruption, greed, hatred, and a nightmarish universe enveloped in total darkness."

Astronema's hands rested on the railing as she leaned over slightly. "Fight strong and keep on fighting until every single force of good, every soldier of fortune, and especially every single Power Ranger lies dead at your feet!"

The cheers were almost thunderous, deafening as the armies of Astronema... the armies of Dark Specter chanted the monarch's name. The chanting lasted several minutes before the warning klaxons sounded, drowning out the chants.

Instantly, thousands of Velocifighters poured from the hangar bays of the Dark Fortress, which was calmly sitting within a blue nebula, its unique properties shielding it from sensors. The large group of ships, joining larger battleships that numbered in the hundreds, soon split off into smaller groups, each one headed for a different system of the universe, each one with one goal in mind: total and utter domination.

Nothing else mattered. There is no turning back. One way or another, the war ends...

**End FIFTEEN**


	2. Fourteen

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Fourteen**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

---

_"Everything look good?"_

_"To me, it does. Hard to tell since I don't understand Eltarian much."_

_"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure it's safe to activate. I just hope that we get the process started soon. The others might need us."_

_"Come on, Billy. Like my dad says, the more you worry, the more white hairs you'll get. Besides, what could possibly happen out there while we're in here?"_

---

Several months ago, Lord Zedd and his deceased partner hired a changeling privateer named Flinn, whose duty was to impersonate and even replace a specific target for a hefty pay each week, transmitted through encrypted coding. Flinn's mission, this time, was to impersonate the fleshman lord himself, while Zedd was dealing with other matters. Flinn's unique talents, in which he analysed a target's mannerisms that he would play the part without flaw, was what made him the best hired changeling in the known universe.

Despite the skimpy pay that was received these past few weeks, Flinn had enjoyed this assignment very well. After all, it is not every day he'd got to impersonate an Alliance warlord and get paid for it. His performance, to say the least, was the most convincing; even Rita had been fooled by his delicate acting and postures. Flinn never let out any clues as to who he really was and for all he knows, that could only be a good thing. He remembered the conversation he had with Astronema an hour ago, with Rita standing by his side. He could admit to being nervous; Astronema had supposedly changed for the worse.

He remembered Rita's shrieking voice telling him (as Zedd, of course) to stand up for her, informing Astronema that they would not follow her plan. However, when Astronema told them that she was given command of the operation by Dark Specter himself, Flinn played the defensive and said that any plan Astronema gives him, he would follow without hesitation. Long after the communication ended, they returned to their space station, which was orbiting the desert world they were on. While Rita went to relieve herself, Flinn returned to his personal chamber and began looking over the plans that Astronema had transferred to the main Alliance network just a short while ago. From the many workings and details, he could tell that these were straight out ambushes that would catch each target off-guard, but relied purely on strength of numbers and no effective means of using them properly.

"That was quite a performance, Zeddy. Pretending to buckle under Dark Specter's name to get rid of that insolent wench!"

He could hear the shrieking voice of Rita Repulsa growing louder as the former Empress made her to the chamber. Upon entering the room, Rita noticed the galactic map displayed on the giant tactical screen, along with several windows of scrolling text. Rita studied "Zedd's" posture for a moment as he twitched his head quickly and in odd, unatural movements. It scared her and not just the usual fright of receiving a headache whenever something went awry.

"Are these the plans she wants us to follow?" she asked.

Flinn nodded. "These look like they've been made up in a short period of time. They're flawed to say the very least."

Rita huffed, unimpressed. "Who cares?! We're not going to follow those plans, right?"

"We might have to." Flinn slowly turned to Rita, who was staring wide-eyed at the fleshman in disbelief. Flinn stood up from his chair and nodded slowly. "With a few modifications of our own."

Rita cooed at the idea. "Goodie! When do we begin?"

Flinn sat back down and turned to the console. "Prepare the ships to leave for the Vica sector. It's a relatively easy target that will hopefully attract a superpower."

Rita nodded and ran out the room, screaming in delight that they were going to attack. When she was out of sight and out of hearing range, Flinn slumped further down as he sighed heavily. Just enduring that woman's screeching voice was a test in itself, one that he had somehow found the strength and resolve to pass with flying colors without blowing his cover. His eyes slowly glanced on the galactic map, which was slowly turning red to indicate the number of Alliance forces launched.

"Wherever you are, Zedd," he muttered under his breath, "I hope you accomplish what you set out to do."

---

It has been two hours since they had escaped the imploding Lunar Palace and since that time, they had maintained orbit of the moon in hopes of finding their two missing friends. Despite his rush training of the equipment, Rocky seemed comfortable with the controls and Adam seemed to catch on to the ship's main flight functions, leaving Jason to prance from one to the other.

"Any sign of life, Rocky?" Jason asked.

Rocky shook his head begrudgingly as he worked the Megashuttle's controls. "I've got nothing, Jason. That isn't to say they're dead, because if what that Andros guy tells me is true, I'd be able to pick up human corpses with this thing. Since the scanner doesn't find anything other than a deteriorated corpse, I've got a feeling that-"

Jason raised his hand. "I get the idea, bro."

"So they're not on the moon," Adam jumped in. "And they're not dead. So where can they be?"

Jason threw his hands back and walked in circles in the small command center of the shuttle. Rocky turned his attention back to the scanner and noticed a red-light flickering over the long-range detection grid. Rocky slowly keyed in the command to switch to long-range sensors, but when the appropriate display was brought up, Rocky couldn't make note of the several light flickers on radar.

"What's this?" Rocky said aloud as he studied the display. Upon closer inspection, the former Ranger's eyes widened with his two fellow ex-Rangers taking immediate notice.

"What is it?" Jason asked anxiously.

Rocky hesitated for a moment before answering. "It's war, Jason. It's war."

Adam left the side station and approached Rocky. "I don't get it."

"It's a battlefleet of fighters and starships, guys," Rocky said, "It's war."

---

Gorah Khan. Homeworld of the Machine Empire - leadership currently under dispute ever since Mondo was dethroned for failing to add Earth to a list of planets under the Empire's rule. The ruling console decided to give the role of Emperor to Aradon, a rival of Mondo. Naturally, dissension among the ranks had caused the Empire to fall into civil war. To prevent further transgressions from outside forces, Aradon instilled the TDS defense grid, which had lasted for a good year... until recently.

"It's been confirmed, my Emperor," the Cog general stated, "the first batallion of fighters have penetrated the TDS defenses and are already causing rampant fighting along the borders."

Aradon stared into the datapad containing maps, tactical reports. He tossed it aside where several more datapads were piled up and glanced at the circle of Cog generals - products of the merging of organic and mechanic properties - loyal servants of Aradon. For a long time, there was silence in the chamber as Aradon pondered on all the possible strategies that his rival, the former king Mondo, would attempt to reclaim the throne and complete control of the Empire.

"I had a feeling Mondo wouldn't waste his time," Aradon said bitterly, "But he's an Alliance member and according to Intel, Mondo is supposed to be attacking Phaderea."

Another Cog general stepped forward to address Aradon. "You do realize Mondo will find a way to get here, sire."

Aradon nodded. "I know. I have already ordered the planetary platforms upgraded and modified in case enemy forces decide to show up. I doubt even the Alliance's VF-20s could withstand our polaron weapons." He stood from his throne, which caused the Cog generals to stiffen. "Our main focus should be defending the borders and keeping whatever insurgents from getting deeper into the territory. We have to keep this state from getting worse than it already is."

"Yessir." All five generals saluted at once and left the throne room. Aradon stood alone for a moment and promptly walked out shortly after.

---

Ninjor led Kimberly into the lower sanctions of the Temple of Power, a place where Kim wasn't too familiar with. The climb down the spiral staircase directed the two to a small, circular chamber with various monitors stacked in place of walls. Ninjor stepped in the center of the room while Kim stayed at the entryway in awe of the room. After saying a prayer, Ninjor stepped to a side of the room as a 3D holographic image of the human anatomy, colored green, white, and a majority of it a faint pink color. Kim stared at this image for a moments and turned to the ninja in bewilderment.

"What's this?" Kim asked. "I don't understand, Ninjor."

"This is you, Kimberly," Ninjor replied coolly, "or rather, your bio-signature represented in a three-dimensional holographic form. Do you notice the dominant colorization of pink on this display?"

Kim nodded.

"It's the result of your 'Power Rush' period. The sporadic burst of energy has caused a compound to be released into your body and it's spreading fast. There's a reason Zordon designed morphers for you to use with the coins."

"I didn't have any option at the time," Kim insisted, "If I made you angry because of it, I'm sorry."

Ninjor shook his head. "I'm not angry, Kim. I'm just concerned for your well-being."

"Am I going to die because of this 'Power Rush' period?" she asked. More like slipped out subconsciously.

Again, the ninja shook his head. "You'll live. For now."

Kim seemed agitated by that remark. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll be honest with you," Ninjor said bluntly. "You're not here because I sent you here to talk about your Power Rush or anything. You're here because I need help."

"With what?"

Ninjor hesitated before answering. "Defending this temple against the forces of evil. The war has begun."

---

Lord Zedd sat in his command chair on the bridge of the strike cruiser Tyrant, where he was contemplating the future of the universe. He laid back on his chair as he looked at the viewing screen, which showed a black blanket littered with pinholes of white light that was the vastness of space. Zedd flashed a cold smirk, hidden by his iron mask, as his carefully constructed plan was going smoothly. With a doppelganger taking his place by Rita's side and most traces of his existence on Earth destroyed, Zedd focused on his primary goal; the retaking of Eltare... hard for Zedd to think of it that way, when the planet was never one of his to begin with.

Zedd smiled when he read the latest report from the poser named Flinn concerning Astronema's recent contact. His grievous performance had not only fooled Rita, but also the upstart Princess and even Dark Specter himself. The charade, indeed, was working perfectly, just as Zedd's dead partner said it would. He turned his attention to the Tenga Knight at helm control, who immediately took notice of the fleshman.

"We will be approaching Eltarian orbit in seven hours present speed, sire," the helm reported, "All vessels and troops are operating within normal parameters."

Zedd clasped his hands together. "Excellent, Commander. Assemble with the rest of the squadron leaders to brief them on my plan at retake the planet."

The helm nodded in response. With that done, Zedd stood from the command chair and left the bridge. As he walked down the hall, he noticed the various soldiers prepping themselves for the inevitable encounter. He took a glance at the closest barracks, which had his new brand of Ranger Wraiths on the ready. These Ranger knockoffs were said to be as strong as a real Power Ranger, if not moreso. While the first test run had not be pleasant, later uses of the Wraiths had proved more productive and improvements would be made until they had reached a sufficient level. They were more than enough to take on whatever the Alliance or anybody else would throw at them, and Zedd wouldn't have it any other way.

Entering his private chamber after a lengthy tour of his vessel, Zedd stared into the abyss that was space. If one were to look closely, there would brief flickers of light in the backdrop; the sure sign that the war has already begun. His attention would have been to his hard-surfaced bed if it wasn't for the shadowed figured standing in the corner. Zedd noticed the figure's posture and found a familiarity to it. By the time he recognized the face, he was met with a kick to the stomach that knocked him face first to the floor. He slowly got up to find his mortal enemy in a fighting pose, wearing a heavy coat over a familiar Ranger suit.

"Get up, you bastard," the Ranger grunted, "Unless you want to die on your knees."

**End FOURTEEN**


	3. Thirteen

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Thirteen**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

---

_"Well, Justin? How's the flow regulators?"_

_"They're operating normally, Billy. Zordon sure didn't make this easy, though."_

_"That's Zordon's style. I don't mind personally. I like a good challenge."_

_"I guess so... what the?"_

_"What is it?"_

_"Is it just me or did these sensors suddenly go crazy?"_

_"Let me see... this isn't good."_

_"What is it, Billy?"_

_"A reason to get white hair."_

---

Zedd shook his bearings together, his eyes focused on the rage-filled Ranger who had somehow boarded his vessel. Zedd got back to his feet, which resulted in the Ranger jumping at the fleshman lord. Zedd foresaw this and sidestepped the flying Ranger, who landed on his feet. Before the Ranger could make another move, Zedd lunged at him and held him in a bearhug position. Once securely held, he dropped to the floor and released the Ranger as the sheer momentum carried the human to a wall. Zedd began his slow stalk towards the Ranger, who was slowly getting back to his feet. The throw had done its damage and Zedd was prepared to deliver the killing blow.

"You're going to regret invading my ship, Oliver," the fleshman growled, "I'm not going to make the same mistake as I did years ago."

The sudden shaking of the room had caused Zedd to lose his balance and tossed him to the furthest wall of the chamber. Zedd glanced outside at the viewport and noticed several starcruisers firing concussion charges at his ship. As much as he would rather finish the Ranger off now, he knew his ship and fleet was the priority.

"We'll finish this later, Oliver!" Zedd spat, "In the meantime, I've got a fleet to safeguard and a planet to retake."

Zedd quickly left the room and before Thomas Oliver could follow, another violent hit shook the room and Thomas was tossed to the side of the room as a result. Thomas regained his senses and ran out the room. He looked both ways of the hall and saw no sign of Zedd, but did see rushing Ranger Wraiths and Tengas, none of which were paying any attention to him. Then he went back to the last comment Zedd made.

_Did he just say a planet to retake?_

---

The first wave of attack fighters entered Triforian orbit before anyone was prepared. Within the first five seconds of combat, the planet's orbital defense platforms were quickly destroyed before the barrage of concussion missiles and proton torpedoes launched from the invading Alliance forces. With the first minute of the fight, the golden Triforian sky is littered with attacking fighters and assault shuttles. Some are shot out of the sky thanks to the ground turrets, but others manage to land safely and in mere moments, Alliance troops and generals filled the fields with their presence.

Within the throne room and tactical office, Prince Trey of Triforia watches through survellience video monitors and sensor equipment as the ground troops do battle with the various foot soldiers that drop from the airborne vessels. Trey was truly concerned, although he did not show it. Behind him, three royal aides entered the room and Trey turned his attention to them. They seemed anxious and even a bit scared, as they should be.

"Sire," one of his aides said, "We've received word that a battle fleet led by Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa is fast approaching the Vikan system."

Trey's eyes widened at the mention of the small outpost. "Vikans have no defenses; they'll just end up like another Edenoi if Zedd and Rita have their way."

He took a brief gaze at the farthest wall of the room and walked towards it, with his aide following him. Trey placed his hand on the circle imprint of the wall. The wall soon faded, revealing a small chamber. Levitating in the air was the Golden Power Staff, which had been Trey's weapon as well as the source of his power. He had sworn off using it after the last time over two Earth years ago, but the situation was dire and the Gold Ranger was needed. Reluctantly, Trey plucked the floating staff and held it firmly as its power joined with Trey.

"I'll have to lead a team to that world," Trey commented, "Yet I cannot leave my own world at its time of need."

The second aide stepped forward. "Sire, do what you must. Our forces have everything under control and we still have the secret weapons at our disposal if the situation calls for it."

Trey smiled for a moment, and despite knowing what the aide said isn't necessarily true, he had found comfort in that thought. His conflicted feelings resolved, Trey raised the Golden Staff above his head and was immediately enveloped in golden light. When the light faded, Trey was wearing the armor of the Gold Ranger, his alter ego. Gold Ranger made his way out the door and paused for a moment when he saw his aide by the window of his throne room.

"Good luck, sire," his aide said without looking back.

Gold Ranger nodded. "To all of us."

---

Two Alliance dreadnoughts, armed to the teeth with laser turrets, missiles launchers, and hundreds of Gunboats, enter orbit of the Nomad planet, where the ground bases have begun deploying their snub fighters to confront the intruders. Within a minute of battle, the first wave of Alliance gunboats defeat the Nomad snub fighters and begin devastation of the planet's cities and resources while the dreadnoughts sit back and launch nuclear weapons to the surface that further intensifies the damage already done. Within five minutes, the planet is devastated and its habitants all killed.

---

"Divatox! We're here!"

Divatox, clad in her usual grab, approached the bay area of the spacebase as it entered orbit of the water-planet called Aquitar. Divatox observed the blue planet with a certain amount of confidence, as she suspects this to be an even easier conquest than the previous six worlds she had already conquered. And with the Aquitian Rangers out on another planet, the space pirate deemed this to be even easier.

"Time to show that Astronema evil." she muttered to herself, then to her brother General Havoc, "Let's get this over and done with."

On command, Havoc fired the first wave of missiles to the planet's atmosphere. The missiles sped quickly through and broke the surface of the all-consuming Aquitian oceans. Under the sea, Aquitian defenses activated and their powerful lasers instantly destroyed the missiles. Soonafter, a second barrage of missiles was launched from the Spacebase. These missiles were much more quicker than before. All but one of the missiles were destroyed, with the remaining projectile piercing through one of the Aquitian energy towers and causing it to explode.

Within the underwater city, all power was suddenly cut off and people panicked. Without power, their city was defenseless prey to the space-based predator that struck a fatal blow. It wasn't long before the Aquitian city was quickly filled with thousands of Pirahnatron soldiers and Aquitian guards confronted them. It wouldn't be long before the guards were defeated and in a matter of hours, Aquitar was declared a Divatox conquest and everyone celebrated for five minutes before their leader let out a loud yawn.

"Golly, I'm bored," Divatox proclaimed, "Let's conquer some other planet."

---

Mondo relished the moment he had heard the word go round. After two years of fleeing and putting up with petty scouting missions and unimportant battles, Mondo would finally participate in the greatest war of all and his loyalty would be repaid with a battlefleet large enough to retake what was forcibly taken from him. That isn't to say that what was currently under his command wasn't a large fleet in itself, but Mondo relished gaining larger numbers to reclaim the throne of the Machine Empire. From the corner of his visual sensor, he saw his loyal servant enter the room.

"My king!" Klank announced proudly, "I have orders from Astronema! We are to prepare for the biggest battle the universe has ever seen!"

Mondo raised his voice. "Excellent! Where are we going to attack?"

"We have orders to invade the seventh planet, the Phantom Ranger's homeworld."

Klank waited for Mondo to give the word to begin the attack, but Mondo never did. Klank saw Mondo's receptors deactivated and saw his body violently shake. Klank expected this attitude; after all, Mondo wanted the order to attack the Aradon-led Machine Empire and deactivate the half-breed responsible for his dethroning and his humiliation. Mondo's receptors were quickly activated and Klank saw him confer with Machina. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for a machine, Mondo turned to Klank.

"Send half of our available fleet to that world, Klank," he ordered, "I'm going to take the rest of the fleet and remove that wretched Aradon from my throne."

Klank seemed shaken. "B-But that would go against Astronema's orders, which subsequently goes against Dark Specter's orders."

"The Phantom Ranger's world is hardly a difficult planet to conquer," Mondo said, "Not with our newly aquired thunder walkers."

"Indeed," Klank said in realization, "In that case, it'll be done!"

---

The rebel compound, spread across several miles beneath the barren surface of KO-35's farthest moon, was well protected from the aerial bombardments of Alliance warships, but that did not comfort senior Commander Kinwon much. He knew that it would only be a matter of time before ground forces made contact and the more brutal battles would be fought. His mind wandered between the briefing and the possibility that their mission to reclaim their world would surely fail.

"There's a second battlefleet emerging from the Briar Patch," one of the lieutenants said, "We've mobilized most of the ground forces and we've launched several squadrons of snub fighters in orbital defense, but I must be frank. Our forces don't stand a chance against a full battlefleet, let alone two. And the bombardments are picking us apart already."

Zhane saw Kinwon dropped to his chair defeatedly as he listened to the lieutenant's report. All he heard was more news of forthcoming defeat and hopeless battle plans. While Zhane did believe the rebels were fighting a battle they couldn't possibly win, he knew that it didn't have to be a hopeless one. Without a second thought, Zhane marched his way towards the exit before Kinwon stopped him.

"Where are you going, Zhane?" he asked.

Zhane turned to answer his old friend. "To find the other Rangers. If we're going to at least survive this fight, we'll need their help."

Kinwon nodded in agreement. "Be safe, Zhane."

Zhane nodded and left the compound. Almost immediately, he morphed into the Silver Ranger, hopped on to his Galaxy Glider, and broke through the dust-filled atmosphere of the derelict Kerovan moon that the rebels used as their home. To much to Zhane's surprise, none of the Alliance ships orbitting the moon and beginning their bombardment noticed the Silver Ranger speeding through their lines, but he knew it wouldn't last long. Instinct told him to home in towards Earth, since the Rangers mostly hung around there when nothing happened. If it wasn't for the built-in computer processor in his helmet, Zhane wouldn't be able to find his way.

When things seemed calm, Zhane turned back and saw three Velocifighters tailing him. Two of them were the obsolete VF-10 models being lead by the recent and modern VF-13 design. Zhane summon his Silverizer and fired two shots at one of the VF-10s, which immediately destroyed the ship. The other two broke formation and kept their distance. Silver Ranger continued speeding ahead despite the interruption, unaware that the lead fighter was still tailing him. Knowing this, the Quantron pilot waited for a lock on the Glider and then fired.

The shot struck the Glider's rocket and Zhane was immediately tossed off, but was able to hang on to the off-balance glider. Zhane saw little superficial damage, but also knew that regaining control would be difficult. He struggled to regain balance to his glider, but found the guidance controls to be completely shot. He was lucky it had any flight power at all, but Zhane felt that luck slowly slipping away as he saw the lead fighter position itself in front of the incapacitated Silver Ranger. Zhane struggled further, but to no avail and watched as the Velocifighter grew closer to attaining a weapons lock.

**End THIRTEEN**


	4. Twelve

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Twelve**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

---

_"First intermix phase is complete. Readying for second phase."_

_"Confirmed, Billy. Going with second intermix phase... now."_

_"Careful, Justin. Try not to overload the neutrino power grid or we'll have to redo the whole system from scratch again."_

_"Right... Second intermix phase in progress. Should it take as long as the first?"_

_"I doubt it, but just in case..."_

_"What's that?"_

_"It's a chocolate bar, Justin. Want one?"_

_"Um, okay... Thanks."_

---

Completing a pass through the Black Matter nebula, the Astro Megaship sped across the wartorn sector of space. From the viewport of his bunker, Andros could see the small specks of light in the background, indicative of the explosions and space battles being fought. It all happened so fast and just as quickly, an projected five percent of the galaxy was under Alliance control. Several hundred planets and systems ruled with an iron fist by Alliance leader Dark Specter. With such a large volume, Andros felt his chances of ever freeing Karone from the Astronema curse slipping away more than ever.

Tired of doing nothing, he left his bunker and took the long walk towards the bridge, where TJ was manning the navigational controls. Andros looked ahead at the main viewer, which was set to tactical mode. He saw two Velocifighters slowly trailing the Silver Ranger, who was barely hanging on to his disabled Galaxy Glider.

"Looks like Zhane's in trouble." As Andros said that, he immediately sprinted towards the navigation controls while TJ went towards Damage Control. "Power-up megalasers and lock on target."

Carlos nodded and carefully operated the target sensors. When he got a lock, he pushed the fire button and from the cannons of the Megaship shot two brilliant blue beams that struck the jet of the Velocifighter, destroying it on impact. The second Velocifighter quickly flew out of the Megaship's targeting radius and positioned itself behind the spaceship, but before it could open fire, Zhane managed to summon his Silverizer and fired a shot that destroyed the vessel.

"Looks secure, Andros," TJ pointed out, "We should reel him in."

Andros nodded and left the bridge. "Take the con, TJ. I'm gonna meet up with Zhane in the docking bay."

---

As soon as Pyramidus entered orbit of the closest Vican planet, she was met with a thousand laser bolts crashing against the mighty armor of the carrier zord/spacecraft. With several cannons armed, Pyramidus traded fire with several battle cruisers as it sped past them and towards the surface, where a sea of monsters was clearly visible even from the great distance the zord was in. In the main cockpit, Trey worked the master controls, keeping one hand on weapons and another hand on navigation. He had never had to deal with this many targets, even during the height of the Triforian wars.

After some time in the air, Pyramidus land with a loud thud, sending a massive shockwave within a radius of several miles that knocked down all the monsters within it. Slowly, the carrier zord moved about, firing its laser cannons at both ground and aerial targets, shooting down various Velocifighters and Gunboats as well as vaporizing monster troops on the ground. Then the battlecruisers emerged from the skies and shot a barrage of concussion missiles that punched through Pyramidus' armor, multiple explosions erupting the points of impact. Trey, with few options left as his zord was slowly dying under a hail of missiles, programmed the self-destruct sequence and abandoned ship, diving into the sea of monsters whom immediately surrounded the Gold Ranger.

A minute later, the flaming hulk of Pyramidus exploded, sending debris and flaming shrapnel all over the place. Whatever they touched was instantly destroyed and incinerated, but for all the monsters that were destroyed by the suicide attack, twice as many appeared to take their place and all them seemed to take their frustrations on the Gold Ranger, who struggled valiantly to fight against the great numbers. The thought that he was fighting a losing battle did cross his mind, but it didn't necessarily stop him from trying.

From the distance, Rita and Zedd/Flinn looked on as the battle progressed. Rita smiled a wicked smile, giving out orders and raving like a loon. Flinn, however, kept silent, studying the Gold Ranger as he fought off the monsters. After being manhandled, the Gold Ranger looked to be making a few kills and at that point, Flinn turned to Goldar, who nodded and extended his sword. Instantaneously, the sword shot out an orange beam that struck the gold armor of the Triforian prince and knocked him down immediately, where the surrounding monsters piled over him and kept him pinned to the ground.

---

"The rebels are getting bombarded by aerial attacks," Zhane told Andros as the two walked down the decks of the Megaship, "So far, some of their fighters are preventing some of the transports from reaching the surface, but they really need our help."

Andros shook his head with a bitter taste in his mouth. "It isn't just the rebels, Zhane. The Alliance have launched attacks everywhere. Dark Specter, Astronema, Divatox, Mondo, Zedd and Rita, some Varox bounty hunters, even the Guild of Bounty Hunters are in this war."

The two longtime Kerovans entered the bridge, which the other Rangers were prancing around from station to station as new reports on the war effort came in.

"We've gotten word that Divatox just gained control of Ganthra," TJ said bitterly from his station, "That's already seven systems under her control."

Andros nodded sadly. "Anything else?"

"It's widespread panic," Cassie replied anxiously, "Mondo's split off between the Machine Empire and the Outer Rim worlds. Rita and Zedd are going for Vika... a world of diplomats. They'll never know what hit them." She turned back to the console. "There's also battles in Centrius, Aquitar, Rigel, Orion, Antares, Endor, Yufara, Nimbus III, and Nemesis. The list keeps growing every minute."

Zhane stood there as Cassie listed the planets either in combat or under occupation control. It took him a moment to put it all together and then the realization hit him like a punch to the stomach.

"They're trying to take over the universe."

"Exactly," the Red Ranger replied, "This is the biggest attack they've ever pulled off. Dark Specter must be really confident that..."

"Andros," Carlos interrupted from a recon station. "I've got a reading on a large fleet of ships. A thousand Velocifighters, twelve Strike Cruisers, and twin Dark Fortresses, all of them on a parallel heading to..." Carlos' voice trailed off near the end as he saw the destination of the fleet.

Andros' eyes turned to the Black Ranger. He had a distinct feeling where that fleet was going, but he had to ask. "Heading?"

Carlos took a cold stare at the co-ordinates before answering, "They're headed for Earth."

On cue, the main viewscreen showed the massive army headed by the twin Dark Fortresses steadily approaching the Earth, which appeared to be a small blue spot in space. There was only stunned silence on the bridge, as the six Rangers saw the army make its way towards the unsuspecting planet, whose technology wasn't enough to fight an army half that size.

"Best speed to Earth," Andros ordered, "Prep all shields and weapons."

---

"This is serious," Jason Scott said as he pranced around the room, "We need a plan."

Rocky DeSantos, the shuttle's fast-study pilot, turned to Jason in bewilderment. "A plan? Are you nuts?! They outnumber us a gazillion to one! Even if we knew what to expect, we would have no chance in hell of surviving that wave of fighters!!!"

Adam placed a comforting hand on Rocky's shoulder. "Calm down, Rocko. I'm sure we can come up with something."

Jason nodded. "What does the shuttle have in terms of offensive weapons?"

"Not much," Rocky said, "A couple lasers that Andros installed recently along with something called a polaron disruptor cannon." He paused and let out a grin. "I heard he stole it from a Machine junkyard."

Jason blinked in astonishment as Rocky continued to spur technical data on the shuttle, none of which he paid any attention to except for the shuttle's top speed, which was just as fast, if not faster, than any jet fighter on Earth. When Rocky was finished, there was stunned silence as Jason and Adam exchanged quick glances of astonishment.

"We better get security, Adam," Jason said mockingly, "This can't be Rocky."

Adam nodded in agreement, a smile slowly creeping on his face. "You're right, Jason. I don't think Rocky could mutter all that techno-babble."

Rocky threw his arms up. "How can you guys joke at a time like this?"

Jason raised his hands, while silenced the second-wave Power Rangers. "Listen. Until those other Rangers get here, we're the only thing keeping be. Even if it means we'll get killed, we have to try and slow down their advances. There's no other option."

After a long period of silence, Rocky let out a sigh. "You're right, Jason," he admitted, "We've just got to make due with what we have."

"Right," Adam added, "Let's get it done."

---

Zedd scurried to the bridge as fast as he could, amidst the rocking of the hall via missile impacts. When he finally reached the control center of his flagship, he could tell from the main viewer alone that they were being assaulted by the high-end warheads of Varox assault cruisers. Zedd leapt to his command chair and immediately activated the manual targeting system, where a periscope-type device appeared before the fleshman lord. Clutching both hands onto the handlebars, Zedd gave the order to transfer control of the main disruptor cannons to his station, which was done. With the instruments of war, he targeted the nearest vessel and fired several salvos, all of which hit the ship. Much to his disappointment, the initial salvo did not do significant damage.

"My lord," the helm officer called, "I suggest we use the new plasma torpedoes against the Varox!"

Zedd considered the idea for one second. "Do it!"

Immediately, the helm punched in several commands into the computer and soon Zedd gained control of the torpedo launchers. Once again, he fired a single torpedo at the same cruiser and this time, the torpedo made a successful hit and caused the ship's engines to explode, disabling the vessel. The continuous rocking of his ship slowly came to a halt as Zedd made a brief scan of the surrounding area to find that the remaining Varox cruisers were breaking away.

Zedd turned to the Tengu Knights positioned at damage control. "How much damage have we sustained?"

One of the Knights approached the fleshman and bowed before giving his report. "We have sustained light superficial damage that can be quickly repaired within the hour. All systems have experienced temporary disruption, but all is well."

Zedd nodded, then turned to the helm officer. "And the other ships?"

The helm cleared his throat. "Three ships came through the battle unscathed. However, we've lost one ship due to the ambush and one more has sustained heavy damage."

Zedd thumped his fist against the armrest. Shortly, he raised the periscope to its proper place and stood from his seat, and made his way towards the exit. When the doors slid open, Zedd stopped himself when he saw the former Green, White, and Red Ranger block his way. Almost immediately, all the troops left their stations and positioned themselves around Zedd, which forced Thomas to step back and assume an offensive stance.

"It's alright," Zedd insisted, "Return to your posts."

The crew hesitated for a moment, but after a short while, did as ordered and returned to their appropriate stations. Zedd studied the rugged, battered form of his longtime nemesis for a moment and let out a slight chuckle. Thomas' eyes were affixed to Zedd's crimson visor, staring a hole through it and into the eyes of the monster it hid. Finally, Thomas' stone face broke its cold glare and slowly, a wry smile formed.

"You've changed, Zedd," he observed, "You're not the simplistic, petty warlord you used to be."

Zedd nodded. "You've changed as well, Oliver. You're not the arrogant loudmouth Punk Ranger you've used to be."

Thomas shrugged. "Things change."

"Indeed they do, my old enemy," Zedd agreed, "In these times, there's no room for complacency."

"So true," said Thomas, "But now's not the time for small talk. Did I just hear you say a planet to retake?"

Zedd nodded.

"Which planet?"

"Eltare. The homeworld of Zordon, currently the crown jewel of the Alliance conquests. While the Alliance is busy taking over the universe, Eltare will be vulnerable. We get in, we massacre the Alliance leaders of Eltare, and the whole group falls apart." Zedd took a step closer to Thomas, who made no reaction. "I don't expect you to agree with my plan or with my viewpoint, but I'd expect you to stay out of my way or I'll destroy you the same way I'll destroy the rulers of this world."

Thomas threw a smug grin. "Don't worry. I don't intend on fighting you. I intend on helping you."

Zedd looked at the Ranger quizzically. "You would willingly help me? After so long of fighting each other, you would fight alongside by my army of darkness? Why?"

"Like I said, things change," Thomas replied smugly, "Besides, if any evil force is going to rule Eltare, might as well be someone I'm familiar with rather than someone I'm not." He extended his gloved hand to Zedd. "Just this once, I'll fight by your side. Afterwards, we either become fast friends or we beat the living hell out of each other."

Zedd considered the offer. Suddenly, he was struck with an amazing sense of dejavu... this man's clone extended a similar offer to the fleshman mere months ago, an offer he initially felt reserved over, but one that produced an army of Wraiths and a doppelganger named Flinn who was instrumental in allowing Zedd to slip from Dark Specter's sights undetected. Unlike the clone, this was an easy offer to accept, as it was no more than the skills and loyalty of a man he had tried endlessly to convince to fight by his side. With that, he accepted Thomas' hand without regret.

"We'll arrive in Eltarian orbit in less than an hour," he said, "I suggest you get ready..."

**End TWELVE**


	5. Eleven

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Eleven**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

---

"Second intermixing phase is completed. Going for final intermix phase... now."

"Confirmed. Final intermix phase in progress... wait a minute."

"What is it, Justin? Something wrong?"

"There's a slight imbalance in Cell 2 and Cell 6. It's causing some disruption... I think."

"Let me see... it's nothing. I'll just calibrate the alignment here... there we go. Try it now."

"Looks good. Final intermix phase's going smoothly."

"I'm wondering how the outside world's doing without us, Justin."

"Come on, Billy. What's the worse that could happen?"

---

"My princess, we have approached Earth orbit."

Ecliptor stared long and hard into the eyes of Astronema, who looked out the window of her ready room at the planet and her mighty spaceships that surrounded it. Without hesitation, she commenced the battle with the utterance of three simple words to her loyal bodyguard.

"Launch the fighters."

---

"My lord, we have approached Eltarian orbit."

Lord Zedd stood from the command chair of his bridge and looked on as the viewer showed the dust-covered planet known as Eltare, nothing more than a shadow of a world that was a soft purple. Zedd tilted his head towards Thomas Oliver, who gave the fleshman an approving nod. Zedd didn't necessarily trust him and he got the feeling the Ranger doesn't trust him, but this partnership would be brief. He knows it and so does Oliver. Turning his attention back to the viewer, he noticed a small fleet of spacecraft emerging from the atmosphere.

"Deploy fighter wings," he commanded, "Then plot a course for the capital city."

The helm nodded and did as ordered.

---

The city of Angel Grove seemed relatively peaceful in the past couple weeks. There hasn't been word of a monster attack and for the most part, crime had lowered substantially. After a long and turbulent period of monster attacks and widespread destructions that had garnered the city's reputation as a hellhole, Angel Grove was starting to seem a little like paradise... and it seemed like nothing could spoil the mood for the citizens.

Then it happened. From the main street, citizens took notice to a large group of fighters emerging from the sky. As swiftly and as quickly as they appeared, they launched their attack. Their laser weapons and missiles, used to damage buildings and skyscrapers, had caused the people to panic and run for their lives. Vehicles skid off the road and collide with lamp posts and other obstacles. Some cars even get flipped over as a result of several ground explosions caused by the fighters' weapons.

---

Five squadrons of Velocifighters flew into New York and suddenly laid a hailstorm of laser fire across the city. The city soon fell into a state of panic, as traffic accidents occur throughout. Eventually, ground troops materialized out of nowhere to lay further panic to the citizens, most of them running for their lives. While the various emergency forces, such as police officers and army soldiers, arrive to counter the alien forces, their weapons prove ineffective and they are quickly subdued.

---

A listening post on Monster Island, a top-secret Japanese installation situated some hundred miles from Japan, observes the alien attacks through sophisticated scanning equipment. Several screens within the control room show images of invasion fleets opening fire on various cities throughout the world, including major American and European cities. One of the scout officers rush for the telephone, but the general in charge stops him.

"The invasion," the general stated, "is not a threat to the Japanese. Should such a threat arise, then we will deploy our task force."

The scout, understanding the logic behind this, nodded in agreement and returned to his post.

---

With the defenses of the Machine borders down, the large Alliance armada led by Mondo began its long, difficult journey to Gorah Khan. As Mondo clearly anticipated, there would be some resistance and there would be some losses suffered from his army, but they are just a small cost for reclaiming control of the Empire. Of course, those losses were quickly replaced by loyal Machine fleets whom would join Mondo's fleet to crush the so-called Emperor who currently ruled the Empire.

---

From the cruisers under Zedd's command launched several of the old Raptor-class interceptors, as they immediately engaged the orbiting Alliance starships, whom launched their own Velocifighters and Gunboats to counter the insurgents. The fighters managed to keep the Raptors away from the starships, although one of the Raptors managed to launch a barrage of space bombs at a starship at close range. While it didn't destroy the command ship, it did do significant damage that caused it to fall away from formation and slowly floating downward into the atmosphere of Eltare.

Aboard the bridge of the Tyrant, Zedd noticed the falling vessel in his scopes and turned to the helm. "Follow that cruiser!"

The Tyrant slowly engaged its thrusters and soon was in pursuit of the disabled vessel. This sudden course change had attracted several fighter wings to pursue, but the Tyrant anticipated and launched several reserve Raptor wings to counter the intercepting Velocifighters. This allowed the Tyrant to continue on its course and after a short while, was within firing range of the damaged vessel.

"All weapons locked on target," the weaponsmaster Tenga declared, "Ready to fire at your command."

Zedd looked to the Tenga with a bewildered (albeit hidden) look. "What are you waiting for?! FIRE!!"

That's all it took. With several commands transmitted, the Tyrant's main guns fired several concussion charges to the falling ship until it erupted in flames and exploded. Zedd had gotten the first kill as the bridge crew celebrated. The fleshman turned to the Ranger standing in the back, who merely nodded his congratulations at the fleshman. Zedd returned the nod and turned to helm.

"Steady on our course for the capital city."

---

Ninjor and Kimberly stood outside the Temple's walls, looking up at the sky as the first wave of Alliance vessels emerged through the dense clouds. Ninjor clasped both hands together and uttered a prayer in his native tongue while Kimberly continued to gaze at the fleet of cruisers. A second later, she saw several streams of lightning strike several cruisers and inflict heavy damage. Some damage inflict was enough to cause the cruisers to fall out of position and crash while other bolts incinerated the cruisers altogether. The lightshow continued until no more cruisers were in the sky.

"That was easy," Kim uttered, "A little too easy."

Ninjor didn't say anything, but merely pointed out in the distance. Kim took a quick look at the closest crashed cruiser and saw several hundred of its crewmembers emerging from the flaming wreck. Kim didn't recognize most of these grunt soldiers, although she was able to pick out some Pirahnatrons and skeleton knights, armed with swords and shields.

"Alright," she groaned, "I take it back."

---

As soon as the Astro Megaship dropped out of its HyperRush speed, it appeared just behind the Alliance armada, which was already within Earth orbit. Soon enough, the Megaship caught the attention of several fighter wings, all of whom opened fire at the speeding vessel. With the other Rangers focused on maintaining respective systems such as damage control and targeting, Andros' sole responsibility was piloting the ship so that it made it to Earth. For the most part, he managed to avoid most laser blasts and the blasts that struck the ship did minimal damage at best.

"Ready lasers!" Andros called out, "It's time to take some of these guys down."

Zhane activated the auto-targeting system and operated the weapons while Andros piloted the Megaship to follow the trail of a three-fighter flight group. Once he got a lock, Zhane fired two laser bursts. To his utter shock, the laser beams were blocked off by an energy field that momentarily flickered blue on impact and immediately the flight group broke formation.

"Those fighters have shields!" Zhane cried, "Lasers are useless!"

Andros didn't reply. He kept his focus on trying to avoid the laser fire, which was plentiful. He steered the ship towards one of the battlecruisers, which minimized the fighters' fire. At that point, Zhane targeted the cruiser and concentrated laser fire on it. The volley of laser fire had done minimal scorch marks to the hull and a lucky shot managed to cause a power relay to explode, but the Megaship took the brunt of the explosion and Andros found himself wrestling with the suddenly stiff controls.

"Number 2 engine is out!" called Carlos, "I'm shunting power to compensate."

Slowly, Andros could feel control loosing up a bit as Carlos did his best to restore power to the disabled engine. Eventually, Andros got control of the ship back and resumed his course towards Earth. Zhane, meanwhile, targeted several old-style Velocifighters and fired megalasers. Much to his (and the others') relief, the lasers destroyed the small flight group of fighters at impact.

"One down, a bazillion to go," TJ declared, "But we're being tailed by two cruisers!"

Following TJ's response was a barrage of laser fire that rocked the bridge. The main lights went out and Ashley scrambled to bring up the emergency lights. The bridge was soon covered in a veil of red light and various, unoccupied consoles released several sparks before shorting out completely, and one of the control panels exploded, igniting flames that were quickly extinguished by DECA. Andros looked on as three Velocifighters were on a direct collision course, but were soon destroyed before he could veer out of the way.

"What the?" TJ muttered, which seemed to be the sentiment of all the Rangers. It wasn't long before they realized what had happened, as they saw a familiar ship firing various blue laser streams at various fighters, destroying some of them while the shielded vessels were protected.

"It's the shuttle!" Cassie blurted out, "They're taking down some of the fighters!"

Andros continued to pilot the ship towards Earth, but it seemed that the closer they got to the planet, the more ships they encountered and the more firepower he had to avoid. He took a quick glance to the short-range scanner and saw the shuttle slowly tailing him. Instinctively, he opened a comlink with the shuttle and its pilot.

"Rocky, get out of here!" he ordered, "You don't stand a chance against these guys!"

Rocky grunted as the shuttle shook from a laser blast. "None of us stand a chance against these guys! But right now, you need to get your asses down to Earth RIGHT NOW!"

Andros wanted to argue, but knew it was hopeless. For better or worse, Rocky was a Ranger longer than he was despite not have much experience in space. Besides, they needed to get to Earth. He turned to the others, all of whom nodded their heads in agreement and placed their respective stations on automatic control. With that done, Andros turned to Zhane, who was walking towards the controls, knowing what his friend will ask of him.

"Zhane," he said, "mind the store."

Zhane nodded and took control of the Megaship as the other five Rangers left the bridge and for the jump tubes. Minutes later, the morphed Rangers, on their Galaxy Gliders, blaze through Earth's atmosphere. Each Ranger pulled out their Astro Blasters, which had been significantly upgraded to deliver extra damage. It was clearly chaos and the task of dodging all the laser fire and missiles launched would be a daunting task. To the best of their ability, the Rangers continued onward, evading enemy fire as they saw them.

Andros noticed a Velocifighter tailing him momentarily and dodged the constant laser fire. After a while, Andros sped forward to increase distance between himself and the fighter. Aiming his blaster at the fighter's wing, he fired a charged shot that clipped the fighter's wing. The pilot lost control and soon the Velocifighter spun out of control, but not before it was able to fire a concussion missile that sped quickly towards Andros' glider jet. Before he could react, the warhead made contact and the impact caused the glider to explode instantaneously, propel Andros' body out of control and away from the others. Ashley tilted her head wildly as she watched the Red Ranger's body float helplessly away from them. She wanted to get back to him, but there was no chance; circumstances wouldn't allow it and Andros wouldn't want her to anyway. There was no time to turn back to their leader and friend. Whatever reluctance the four Space Rangers had in leaving Andros behind was quickly faded when they focused on the task at hand...

**End ELEVEN**


	6. Ten

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Ten**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

_"Final Phase Completed. Initiating first phase of Project Prodigy."_

_"So we're done here?"_

_"Looks like it. Now it's up to the computers to get the work done."_

_"I still wish we went the short way."_

_"So do I, Justin. But you've heard what Zordon said; the long way ensured the safety of the Project and no one will be able to detect the power signatures until Prodigy is complete."_

_"You're right, Billy. So now what do we do?"_

_"Nothing we can do here now. So let's go home."_

_"Okay! Here we go!"_

**ACCESS DENIED**

_"What does that mean?"_

_"It appears we're unable to teleport."_

_"So we're stuck here?"_

_"It appears so, Justin."_

_"Is it broke or something?"_

_"No, it must be a failsafe system that's keeping us here. Something must be going on outside."_

_"If we can only get one of these sensors to work..."_

---

With Jason and Adam working on damage control and sensors of the Megashuttle, all the more difficult work, such as flying, firing, and making sure they don't get hit, fell into the hands of Rocky DeSantos. Despite the short time he had to familiarize himself with the controls of the shuttle, he was actually flying the thing as if he was a twenty-year veteran. For the most part, he had managed to stick with some of the weaker fighters, while performing the occasional hit-and-run attack on nearby cruisers. Even with the Megaship (under Zhane's command - if you want to call it that) assisting them, they're anywhere close to making a dent in this battlefleet, which irritated Rocky.

"That's it! I'm going for that fortress!" Rocky said, "Switching to polaron cannon."

The shuttle's added cannon emerged from a hidden slot of its top. With weapon fully charged, Rocky made his way to the lead Dark Fortress. When he got in range, he fired several shots at the fortress, all of which struck the protective shield surrounding the base. Rocky veered away and turned his attention towards the nearest cruiser, which was flanked by several VF-20 Velocifighters. He fired a shot at the lead fighter and saw the shot strike the fighter's shield. Rocky targeted the reactor of the cruiser and from the shuttle's cannon fired several shots that struck the reactor and destroy it on impact. With the task done, Rocky veered the shuttle away from the exploding cruiser, which soon collided with another cruiser, destroying both capital ships.

Meanwhile, Zhane piloted the Megaship to avoid incoming fire, while DECA operated the targeting, damage control, and fire control of the ship. With DECA's efficient accuracy, the Megaship had managed several Velocifighter kills, but the newer shielded fighters continued their hit and run tactics, unphased by the Megaship's weaponry. At one point, a VF-20 fighter attempted a ramming run towards the Megaship, but was subsequently destroyed by the shuttle. While Zhane was appreciative of the assist, he knew that the two of them were fighting a lost cause.

Not that he's complaining... he enjoyed a good challenge whenever it presented itself.

---

"Leo, they're everywhere!" one of four mutant turtles mentioned within the sanctuary of their hidden lair, deep within the sewers of Manhanttan, in which the city is swarming with alien troops raising havoc throughout the planet.

The leader, Leo, shook his head. "Forget it, Raph! We're ninja!"

"We're ninja living in the sewers of a city swarming with grunts!" Raph argued, "The Rangers are in California or in space... who cares?! It's time for us to go out there and kick some shell."

"I have to agree with Raph on this one, Leo," a third turtle, Don, shouted from his lab, "From the news reports, those people aren't gonna last long against those aliens."

"Neither are we!" Leo argued, "Those guys are worse than the Foot Clan!"

"At least we've fought them before, dude," a fourth turtle added, "We know what they can do."

Raph gave Leo a smirk. "Three against one. The majority has spoken."

Leo sighed. He knew that this was not an argument that he would win. And if Splinter were here instead of who-knows-where, he would probably agree with the other three. After all, if aliens were rampant on the surface, it wouldn't be long before they infested the sewers and eventually discover their lair. And that was something he could not allow to happen.

"Okay," he relented, "We need a plan."

---

The strike cruiser _Tyrant_, the flagship of Lord Zedd, was cruising high above the Eltarian capital with its stealth shields on, so that the ship would pass through undetected. Within his private chamber, Lord Zedd looked over the maps of the city, which have been updated to include any recent changes in security. Much to his disappointment, the main capital of the planet Eltare was scarcely defended, which made it an easy target. Zedd allowed himself a chuckle as he begun thinking of a plan to overcome the pathetic defenses of his target.

"Those could be wrong."

Zedd looked up to the rugged Ranger sitting on the other side of the small square table. It'd seem funny to the fleshman how the Ranger had come to kill Zedd, but ended up offering his services to retake the planet. Zedd knew there was more to this than meets the eye, but chose not to pursue the subject.

"They were transmitted by my best spies, Oliver," he said calmly, "I doubt they send me outdated information."

Thomas slightly rose from his chair. "Are you sure about that?"

Zedd stared. "This whole operation has been well secluded for a year and there hasn't been any indication of any 'leaks' faltering through the system."

"If you say." Thomas slumped back to his chair. "Don't you find this odd?"

"Find what odd?"

"Us," Thomas said wryly, "One minute, we're kicking each other asses' and the next minute, we're trying to liberate a planet for all different reasons."

"I just want to rule this world with an iron fist," Zedd spat, then added in a less-than-enthusiastic tone, "Or at least I thought I did."

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Never mind," Zedd said, shaking his head. "We should converge in the briefing room and get the troops ready for the raid on the capital."

With that said, he got up from his chair and left the room, leaving Thomas alone. Thomas couldn't help but notice the hint of reservation that was evident in Zedd's voice, but whether he would accept this as terrific acting or a sincere sense of doubt was hard to ascertain.

_There's no time for that now, he thought, there's a war to fight._

---

Kimberly couldn't tell if Ninjor was looking at the advancing crowds with anticipation, anxiety, or something else entirely. His helmet, which concealed his entire head, did not do much for displaying emotion. But the tensing of his body was all the indication she needed, even if she couldn't interpret it. Funny, she thought, because she didn't know whether to feel scared or otherwise. All she felt was a desire to get out of this alive and in one piece, even if the chances of that happening was all too slim.

She saw Piranhnatrons, armed with staves and swords, flanked by Iron Golems, armed with curved sabers and Gaffi sticks, numbered in the thousands. She could even spot several white-armored soldiers that she heard the Space Rangers call Quantrons. She hadn't seen so many soldiers in her life; even the battle over the Eighth Coin years ago seemed like mere child's play compared to this.

"Do it," he told Kim, "Use the coin."

Kim nodded and pulled out her coin from her pocket. Gripping on the coin firmly had caused her body to glow faintly as she felt the coin infusing her with energy, just as it did before. With newly gained strength and abilities, she stared intently at the advancing army. Just as quick, she and Ninjor were surrounded by the mass numbers and Kim soon found herself fighting off several Golems and Piranhatrons. Each one of Kim's blows had knocked down a grunt, but lingering in Kim's mind was the eventual pain that would cripple her and leave her defenseless against the numerous foes.

Ninjor was skillfully fighting off the hordes of Iron Golems and Pirahnatrons, using every trick he knew to keep the enemy at bay. Having experience in fighting these kinds of battles, Ninjor knew the tactics and mindset needed if he wanted to survive this encounter, let alone win it. Even a warrior as legendary and as powerful as he was could not keep up against these odds forever, and Ninjor knew it. By admitting that, the first part of the battle has already been lost.

---

Seventy-five old-style Sky Fortresses, flanked by several waves of Quadrafighters, VF-13 Velocifighters, and Carrack Cruisers, are three hours away from Gorah Khan. In his personal chamber aboard Venjix's flagship, former Machine King Mondo looks over several progress reports of the Alliance War, as Alliance forces are slowly but surely conquering worlds all over the known galaxy. Mondo's own forces, the forces that rebelled against the Alliance (although with the way things are going, he thought, chances are nobody is going to care), have already retaken several colonies within the Machine Empire and he had acquired the services of Captain Steelon, who is the commander of the powerful Omega Fleet, the most fearful armada of the Empire.

Despite all this, Mondo didn't falter from his main goal; control of the Machine homeworld and the head of the so-called emperor, Aradon. It was a goal that had been in his mind ever since he rejoined the Alliance. The war has given him the opening needed to regain what he believes is his.

---

Alliance troops land on Triforia; the planetary defenses had failed in repelling the trooper transports and now there was a formidable ground battle on all corners of the planet. Armored vehicles were scourged out of military bases and sent out to deal with the invaders, but their archaic assault vehicles were no match for the Alliance war machines that laid waste to the battlefield, troops losing their lives. In a short time, Triforian forces were left no other choice but to request for terms of surrender. It was the only logical option if the survival of their world was to be assured.

---

He felt the pain rushing through his body; the result being on the receiving end of several blows delivered by dozens of Piranhatrons at once. He couldn't find any of the other Aquitian Rangers in sight since the army blocked off all peripheral vision. His vision was also blurry as the dense atmosphere of the forest world Endor and the lack of water for the past hour of fighting contributed to his ever-growing fatigue. Despite all this, Aurico continues to fight on. For every time he gets knocked down, he slowly gets back up to continue the fight.

And then there was Rygog, Divatox's loyal servant and best fighter, who piled through the Piranhatron army until he reached the Red Aquitian Ranger and clocked him with a stiff forearm to the head. Once Aurico collapsed, he squirmed in pain as Rygog began to deliver quick, painful stomps across the back, with the occasional shot to the head. Behind Rygog was the leader of the crew, Divatox. She made her way to the fallen Ranger, tossing any stray Piranhatron in the way aside. She took a close look at the Aquitian, who was continually stomped on by Rygog.

"Ooh, if it isn't a Filet Ranger!" she quipped, then to Rygog she said, "Make sure he stays dead! I don't want you to screw up like my idiot nephew did!"

She soon marched away as Rygog continued to stomp away at Aurico, who could do nothing but take the full brunt of each fierce blow, leaving him battered and bruised. Not even the enhanced protection of his Ranger suit could completely block off the overwhelming pain that was shooting through his body. Soon, the pain overwhelmed him and the Aquitian passed out, the world around him suddenly turning black.

---

The _Tyrant_ had found an open spot not far from the borders of the Eltarian capital. According to Zedd's spies, this spot is rarely searched and unique properties of this particular area made it the perfect hiding place for Zedd's vessel. As a downside, however, the route to the Eltarian Palace, essentially a blue pyramid structure, was decisively farther and it would take a while to get there. Also, word has it that only two ships have managed to survival the orbital battle and are currently engaged in another battle with aerial forces.

However, Zedd wasn't worried and Thomas was indifferent to the whole plan altogether, because if this plan worked and they retook the planet, it could shift the balance of power in this war or even end the war altogether. But little did either one of them know was that the key to absolute victory wasn't on Eltare...

**End TEN**


	7. Nine

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Nine**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

"Finally got sensors to work, Billy."

"Confirmed. Let's see what's going on... oh my God."

"What is it, Billy?"

"It's a global invasion. Alien forces are everywhere."

"So that's why the teleport system isn't letting us out."

"As I said, some kind of failsafe system to keep us from risking ourselves from unnecessary harm."

"Okay, so how do we get around it?"

"We can't. Outward teleportation system is completely shut off from us."

"So we're stuck."

"Maybe... but then again, maybe not."

Already pushing their Galaxy Gliders to the absolute limit, the four Space Rangers were closing in on their hometown of Angel Grove and they could tell that the city was under mass panic. A plan had been converged during the way to split up and cover certain parts of the city, but without Andros on their side, their job was going to be much tougher. Nonetheless, they were resolved to save their city and the four Space Rangers broke off their formation, all of them flying in different directions.

Cassie went for a small crowd in front of one of the smaller markets, which seemed to have been devastated by aerial attacks and more. Surrounding the small crowd of people were various Pirahnatrons and Quantrons, all of them armed with long-range blaster rifles. Immediately, Cassie summoned her signature Satellite Stunner weapon and fired several charged shots to break off the crowd of monsters, all the while avoiding the barrage of fire that was sent her way. One lucky shot managed to hit her Glider's underside, causing Cassie to momentarily lose control. After regaining control, she maneuvered the glider into diving into the last pitch of monsters, then jumped off. When she had the glider in view, she fired a charged shot at the glider, which caused it to fickle with energy. When it drove into the monster crowd, it exploded and took a few of the monsters with them. Cassie soon played crowd control, guiding the small band of humans to the least monster-infested area she could see from her point. Just as the crowd was away, Cassie was ambushed and piled on by several of the grunt soldiers.

Carlos found himself near the warehouse district, caught in a dogfight between two Velocifighters. He had managed to avoid fire, but his Glider took one hit and Carlos lost the ability to steer it. The two Velocifighters. With no other option but a dangerous stunt with a slim chance of success, he leapt off the Glider, which flew into and collided with the Velocifighter in its way, destroying them both. The pilot of the other fighter, surprised by the sudden tactic, was soon met with the full impact of Carlos' flying kick, which broke through the cockpit. Pulling out his leg from the shattered glass slowly, Carlos ripped off the cockpit and tossed aside the Quantron piloting it. Quickly, he jumped onto the pilots chair, gained control of the fighter, and steered cleared of an incoming building.

With a fighter in Carlos' control, he made a quick pass on one of the main streets and fired several shots to dispel the monster crowds. What resulted was enough of an opening for the civilians to escape from their constrained spots, only to be surrounded again by more monster troops. Carlos made another pass and fired more shots to clear up the crowds, but then the long-range ground troops took notice and fired their rifles at the rogue Velocifighter, with Carlos doing as best as he can to avoid incoming fire. Things only got more complicated when more aerial forces joined in the fray and soon Carlos jumped out of the fighter and straight into the crowd of monsters, who soon surrounded him while the fighter he flew collided with another.

With unorthodox stunts in his Galaxy Glider that he would normally restrain from using, TJ seemed to have the least trouble dealing with the Velocifighters. His flightwork had managed to confuse enemies and at one point, two fighters crashed into each other, the flaming rumble dropping on several of the grunt soldiers. TJ continued his daredevil tactics until a stray laser shot caused his chest to explode (the suit, not the actual flesh) and launched off the glider, which was later destroyed. The monsters below soon pounced on TJ, who was completely helpless against the awesome numbers of the Alliance army.

Rather than stay airborne for a long time, Ashley leapt off her Galaxy Glider and dove into a crowd of monsters and fought them off single-handedly. For a moment, she was able to hold her own until one of the Quantrons managed a blow across her helmeted head that stunned Ashley for a moment. She tried to fight back, but was soon surrounded and pummeled mercilessly by the monsters surrounding her. She soon heard the sounds of explosions which caused the monsters to run away, leaving her alone. Ashley looked around and saw missiles flying into the monster crowds. She tilted her head upwards, moving around in circles to find the source of the missiles... until she set her gaze on a familiar figure floating in the air. Could it be?

"Andros?"

She couldn't believe her eyes – she thought that he had been lost after a torpedo attack had destroyed his Galaxy Glider on their way here – but all her instincts had confirmed what she had hoped for.

Indeed, it was the Red Ranger in battlized-form, staying airborne while launching various missiles at the army of Quantrons and Piranatrons to clear the way. He couldn't see all the monster soldiers, but he did notice Darkonda several feet away, who hadn't done much except direct the various monsters under his command. He began a strafing run, extending his Spiral Saber out. Darkonda immediately took notice and launched several of his own energy bolts at the fast-approaching Andros, whose energy shield defended him from the bounty hunter's attacks. Once he was close enough, Andros executed an extended energy slash that struck Darkonda, forcing him to teleport away. Andros returned to the air and continued to launch as many missiles as possible to clear the way of monsters and direct crowd control.

On top of one of the buildings still standing, Ecliptor emerged to check on the progress. He scanned the city streets (flooding with thousands of grunt soldiers) and saw four Rangers within the crowd fighting for their very lives. His eyes continued to scan the area until he saw the Red Ranger, who continued to launch missiles at the grunt soldiers, destroying them. Ecliptor couldn't believe he survived a torpedo shot from a Velocifighter at near-pointblank range.

"Red Ranger survived?" Ecliptor scowled, gripping onto his sword, "Not for long."

With his sword extended forward, Ecliptor fired a green laser bolt that struck the Battlizer Armor's rocket pack, which shorted out the entire armor, causing Andros to fall onto several monsters. Like savage predators would, several Piranhatrons and Quantrons immediately piled up on the stunned Red Ranger, quickly pounding away at their new prey until Andros powered out and soon began to fight feverishly. His efforts had somehow managed to get him closer to Ashley, who was getting pounded and bounced around by a rag doll among a bunch of soldiers. Soon the two found themselves backed against a wall, where several grunt soldiers pulled out their rifles and fired, nearly all the shots from the twenty or so grunt soldiers made their mark on the two Rangers, knocking them down and breaking their morph. Andros and Ashley, now in ripped civilian clothes, were writhing in pain, but blocked it off momentarily to escape their enemies' wrath.

---

"General, we must attack!" the first officer stood from his chair in the hidden Japanese warroom, but the Japanese general in charge of Monster Island shook his head.

"We cannot," he said, "It's not our affair. And it's a grave risk."

The second officer stood from his chair. "With all due respect, General, this is a battle we must forcibly involve ourselves in, regardless of our personal feelings."

"I agree that this is a major threat to Japan and the entire world," the general said, "But is it worth releasing our monsters and ordering them to fight the invaders, who are attacking only with grunt soldiers and fighter planes?" He paused for a moment to glance at the window, which showed the lush, tropical island with a giant, green-scaled lizard creature rampaging in the background. "And if we do succeed, what makes you think we will be able to return our captive monsters back here?! They will only cause further damage!"

There was a short moment of silence before the first officer spoke out. "It is a chance we have to take, General. And should these monsters go crazy after the enemy has been defeated, well..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "We've got them here before. We'll sure as hell do it again."

And for the first time since the fighting began, the general smiled. "Make preparations."

---

Having broken through the outer lines of the Alliance fleet, Zhane piloted the Astro Megaship into Earth's atmosphere, but was ambushed by several fighters and a battleship, which bore a different hull design from those in space. Zhane pulled a sweat as he maneuvered the Megaship to avoid fire and managed to take down a couple of fighters. As good as he was doing, Zhane knew that fighting within the atmosphere in ship mode had always been a hazardous affair due to the limitations of atmospheric dogfights. The Megaship, while able to land and fly within atmospher, was still considered a spaceship for the most part. If only the shuttle is in its docking bay instead of being flown around by former Rangers, he would have been able to form the Megazord and control it through automation. There was one other option

"I need the Megawinger," cried Zhane, "Alpha, take control of the ship and get her outta here!"

"You got it, Zhane-o," Alpha 6 replied as he plopped his way to helm control. "Be careful out there."

Zhane didn't reply, as he was busy making his way to the Glider room. Once there, he ran towards the nearest jumphole and preprogrammed it to teleportation mode, almost losing his footing before he could jump in. An instant later, Zhane found himself in the cockpit of the Megawinger as it emerged from its hiding place on the moon. The sudden appearance had surprised several fighters, which allowed Zhane to finish them off with quick laser bursts. The 'Winger's flight path would cross a cruiser, which fired most of its active flak guns at Zhane, but the shields held and Zhane fired back several laser bursts at the cruiser; not enough to destroy it but enough to cripple it.

Upon reaching Earth's atmosphere, Zhane keyed in the command to convert Megawinger from standard Ship mode to Warrior mode, which is what gave the 'Winger its Zord classification. By the time the transformation was completed, the 'Winger landed on the battered streets of Angel Grove, where he could see the various fighter groups flying around, laying waste to the city. For the first time in his Ranger career, Zhane felt overwhelmed and was unsure as to how to proceed.

---

"This isn't good." Adam Park's words sounded grave as he watched the scanner monitor display the words INCOMING x5 in bright flashing letters.

"Don't say that, Adam," Rocky warned him as he narrowly missed a barrage of laser beams and shot down a three-fighter flight group. "I've got things under control."

"Under control?!" Adam shouted in disbelief, "Just try outrunning five torpedoes!"

"Don't have to." Rocky said those words with a hint of cockiness as he steered the shuttle towards the closest Dark Fortress he could find. Adam didn't understand what he meant until he saw that they were approaching the starbase.

"You're not thinking what I think you're doing," he quipped.

Rocky didn't reply, as he continued his course and alternated his attention between the old-style radar and the massive Dark Fortress, to which the shuttle was getting closer to. Jason slowly stood from his console and slowly approached the cockpit, suddenly also aware of what his Red Ranger replacement was planning on doing.

"Rocky," the former Black Ranger said, "You're getting way too close for comfort."

Rocky cut the throttle to half, slowing the shuttle down as it neared its approach towards the Dark Fortress. Adam worriedly looked into the radar, seeing that the seven torpedoes, now joined by three others, were fast approaching. He soon stared ahead and saw that they were dangerously close to colliding with the Dark Fortress. Before he could utter another word, Rocky immediately pulled the column back and punched the throttle to full throttle, barely scraping the paint of the hull of the Fortress. The barrage of torpedoes, rather than pursue the shuttle, blasted against the outer armor of the fortress, causing various explosions to erupt and the affected hull plating to be obliterated. While it didn't destroy the Fortress, it did deliver significant damage.

Adam let out a sigh of relief while Jason wiped his brow of sweat and gave Rocky a cold glare. Rocky noticed the two glares, but kept his eyes on the fighting ahead.

"Well, it worked" was Rocky's only bitter reply.

Jason shook his head. "Let's get to Earth. Maybe the odds will be better in our favor if we stuck together."

At that moment, the shuttle did a sharp 180 degree turn and flew towards the blue-emerald planet that had been the Rangers' homeworld. Rocky focused on pumping whatever spare power he could to the engines, all the while avoiding any stray fire or conflicts. On his side, he could see the Astro Megaship pulling out of the atmosphere and back into the middle of the fleet, which almost all simultaneously opened fire. Rocky could see the Megaship under constant fire just before it left visual range. Rocky thought of turning, but resisted the idea and continued onward.

It took several seconds before Rocky could see the city of Angel Grove. The city being devastated was nothing new to him, as several monster attacks had been frequent during the Ranger days. The city being devastated this badly was a new sight to him and the other two former Rangers, whom assumed their respective stations in the shuttle cockpit. Within the distance, he could see the Megawinger slowly picking away at several stray fighters but still surrounded. He piloted the shuttle towards the 'Winger.

"Here we go, guys," Rocky told them, "Time to rumble."

At the pull of the trigger, blue beams shot from the tips of the shuttle's wings. The stream of blasts took down several Velocifighters in their way, attracting some attention away from the 'Winger. Silver Ranger, noticing the provided distraction, made a march towards a nearby group of grunt soldiers. Without hesitation, Zhane commanded the 'Winger to make hard stomps that caused powerful shockwaves powerful enough to send the Alliance armies flying all over.

With the majority of fighters destroyed, the shuttle made another pass towards the 'Winger, who was still dealing a couple stray fighters. However, the shuttle soon buckled under the laser fire of another wave of Velocifighters. These were different from the others in which they were faster and stronger. Rocky fired several shots at one of them, but none of them did enough damage to any of them. He tried to evade their fire, but they were coming from all angles and soon various circuits began to spark, much to the horror of the three Rangers on board.

"Shields are buckling, Jay!" Adam called out.

"Rocky, get us out of here!" Jason shouted.

Before Rocky could reply, there was a loud burst of static coming from the speakers, prompting the three passengers to block their ears momentarily before the static faded into a faint voice, broken up to bits and pieces by the still-existing static prevalent throughout.

"Jas.., can y.. h..r me?"

Though barely audible, Jason recognized the voice. "Billy? Bro, is that you?"

"It's me, Ja..n," the voice replied, still garbled, "I'm g.... to activa.. tra...or beam that will b...g you to saf..y. Brace for te...." At that point, the message

"'Brace for Te?'" Adam repeated, "Brace for what?!"

His response was a bright flash of light that enveloped them all.

---

"Where did they go?" the Silver Ranger asked just as he witnessed the Megashuttle seemingly vanish out of thin air. Before he could react, the cockpit shook heavily as the MegaWinger fell under heavy fire from the VF-20 Velocifighters and their concussion missiles. While the lasers had proven ineffective against the 'Winger's outer armor, the missiles pierced through the mechanical droid without a hitch, explosions rupturing the smooth surface of the hull. Silver Ranger tried to pull off a quick turn, but found his controls dead. Before long, the cockpit was engulfed in flames and Zhane had no choice but to abandon ship.

Through the emergency hatch, Silver Ranger launched himself out of the dying MegaWinger and into a pile of rubble. The hard landing and the resulting explosions had forced a hard demorph, causing the Silver Ranger suit to disappear and replaced with tattered Earth clothes. Fortunately for Zhane, the area that he crashed into was devoid of enemy or civilian. Zhane stood and turned to have one last look at the MegaWinger as it slowly tumbled to the ground, falling under a barrage of missiles that had blown off portions of the Zord's outer shell. The land was hard and loud, but didn't result in a massive explosion.

Collecting his remaining wits, Zhane ran towards the nearest manhole, pulled the cover off, and leapt in to the city's sewer system. He began running through the tunnels to find a suitable spot to emerge, hoping that the other Rangers were alright.

---

Carlos' battered body bounced off several large pieces of building debris before landing on the pavement with a sickening thud. Carlos tried to regain some strength in his legs to stand up, but couldn't. From the distance, he could see Cassie and TJ taking massive beatings before losing their morphs, just as he lost his a short while ago. Suddenly, he had found the strength to run to his fallen Rangers and help them back up. Even though they were together, the three Space Rangers were horrifically outnumbered by the Alliance grunt soldiers.

"Pull out!" TJ shouted, "RETREAT!"

No arguments were necessary. The demorphed Rangers ran as fast as their legs were capable of going from the growing army of Quantron soldiers. Even with their powers at full-strength, they would be hard pressed to win this fight. Without them, victory wasn't even an option. Survival is all that matters at this point.

The battle would be lost... it would only be a matter of time.

**End NINE**


	8. Eight

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Eight**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

Triforian soldiers fought valiantly and bravely, but their efforts could not overcome the great numbers of Alliance forces, which continued to pile from the transports that drop off and fly back into formation with the rest of the fleet in orbit of the planet. Explosions erupt at random points of the barren battlefield; the result of orbital bombardments from the fleet. After two hours of intense ground fighting, Alliance forces had penetrated the Triforian Council building, where the temporary leaders, rather than becoming martyrs, gave their unconditional surrender to the Alliance commanders who readily occupied the fortress. The golden kingdom of Triforia, the first major superpower of good, had fallen."My king, we have reached Gorah Khan."

The words Mondo had waited to hear for months had been spoken through the speakers in his personal chambers. He said not one word, but instead got up from his resting place and walked down the darkened halls of his flagship, inspecting every soldier doing its duty until he made his way to the bridge and saw on the viewscreen the majestic dark orange-shaded sphere that was the homeworld of the Machine Empire; the world that he alone ruled until his exile. He took a long look at the planet and its various orbital platforms, then turned his attention to General Venjix, who was sitting calmly on the command chair.

"Begin the attack," Mondo ordered, "Send all of these traitors to the scrapheap."

Venjix tilted his head in response. "Yes, my liege. It shall be done."

---

"Emperor, the sympathizers are in orbit," Aradon's aide reported in the emperor's chambers. On his throne, Aradon frequently alternated his attention between his Cog observer aide and the tactical display, which showed several enemy IFF signals quickly approaching the friendly craft surrounding the planet on all counts. Part of him was impressed with Mondo's ability to acquire such a massive army.

"What are their compliments?"

The observer handed the padd with his findings to Aradon. "Mondo has several old-style sky-fortresses and two Avenger-class attack cruisers at his disposal, which gives him a fair number of Quadrafighters and Alliance Velocifighters at his disposal. We have tracked an unusual amount of Cogdekas under his command and-"

"Cogdekas?" Aradon interrupted in surprise. "How did he get his hands on those?"

"Sympathetic forces must have managed to acquire a ship full of them several weeks ago in a skirmish over Antares," the observer said, "Forces led by General Venjix and his associates also have possession of a small Cogdeka battalion force."

Aradon pounded his wrist against the armrest in astonishment and frustration. He knew that Cogdekas, while still in the experimental stage, were powerful additions to Mondo's army due to their personal force shields and thick armor skin. In spite of what he thinks of Mondo personally, he must commend him for his strategic thinking. His next thought was quickly interrupted when he saw another Cog soldier run and give his report.

"Sire, the battle has begun."

Aradon did not reply nor did his face show much emotion. He simply nodded and turned his attention to the tactical display, where he saw the battle over Gorah Khan's orbit erupt.

---

Ninjor felt his energy slowly sipping away as the battle against the evil armies proceeded to drag on longer than he had hoped to last. His attacks and moves were slightly sluggish and deliver less of an impact than they usually did. Every once in a while, he would glance at Kimberly several yards away to check on her and find that the former Pink Ranger had managed to stand her ground, deflecting and countering as many enemy blows as she could at a very quick pace. Part of Ninjor was worried; he knew Kim to be a good fighter, but from her posture, moves, and bellows, he could sense a hint of aggression and anger. He could go as far as believe it scared him and that's something. This distraction, along with the ferocity of the grunts made the odds overwhelming for him and he began to call out the one thing he didn't expect to hear himself say."There's too many of them!" the ninja master shouted, "We have to retreat!"

Kim didn't say a word as she landed a fist into a golem's face, disfiguring it slightly. She merely nodded and leapt off the ground, covering a couple miles over the band of monsters and landing on a large boulder close to the Temple of Power's entrance. Ninjor did a similar leap across the monstrous army, with a visible crack in his armor. Once united, Kim and Ninjor ran into the caves where the vortex to the Temple was located, with the monsters now in pursuit. Once they reached it, both entered the vortex, but not before Kim shot out a bolt of pink energy from her fist that caused the entrance to cave in, blocking off the pursuing monsters. Kim found herself in the familiar garden and turned back to the point from where she emerged, where an orb of energy briefly fluctuated before blinking out of existence completely. Kim walked back to the spot and nothing happened, confirming her belief that the vortex had collapsed. She turned back to Ninjor, who was holding on to the rockface with one arm and his chestplate with the other.

"Looks like we're stuck here for the time being," Kim observed, "Sorry."

Ninjor shook his head. "There's no need to apologize, Kim. At least the Temple is protected from the forces of evil."

Just as Ninjor reached the gates, he almost collapsed, prompting Kim to rush at the ninja master and help him back to his feet. Kim didn't worry too much about Ninjor until she noticed the red liquid dripping from the crack of the blue armor, some of which had stained itself on Kim's shirt and pant leg.

"You're hurt."

"It's just a little blood wound," Ninjor argued, "Nothing to be worried about."

Kim scoffed. "You're bleeding buckets, Ninjor. That doesn't seem like a 'little' to me."

"Please, Kim. This isn't the time to be nursing my open wound," insisted Ninjor, "We have to devise a means to defend the temple against those who threaten it."

"What kind of defense? There's practically a whole army out there!"

Ninjor shot an imaginary smirk. "I thought you had some experience against those odds."

"We had help at the time," Kim told him, "And I... was unconscious at the time."

---

An hour's worth of scouting had led the small attack force led by Zedd and Thomas through the outer sanctum of the Eltarian capital, which was roughly several miles away from the palace. Considering this was supposed to be the most fortified planet in Alliance control, Zedd was disappointed in the apparent lack of guards situated as they marched closer to the capital borders. Thomas, meanwhile, merely looked around in astonishment at the somewhat ancient look to the buildings and surrounding structures. For such an advanced and powerful world, they don't look it. Thomas' eyes kept roaming around until he saw a white teleport beam flash before the attack force, stopping them as the figure materialized."What the!"

It was a Turbo Ranger, its suit a pristine white and the normally-yellow parts a clean gold. Almost immediately, it pulled out two fairly large blaster rifles and began firing charged bolts. Zedd, Thomas, and several of the Wraiths managed to leap out of the bolts' way, although it managed to strike two Wraiths and kill them without effort. Zedd pulled out his own blaster and fired laser bolts at the Turbo Ranger (which bounced off the suit like nothing) while Thomas rushed at the Ranger with his sword extended outward. The Turbo Ranger turned towards Thomas and shot the veteran Ranger with several energy bolts, but Thomas continued his approach. He then tossed the sword at the Turbo Ranger, who crouched out of the weapon's way in response. Thomas then summoned his Zeonisers, made the call, and soon was in his Zeo Ranger V suit. An instant later, the Turbo Ranger threw his open palm outward and soon Thomas was pushed back by an invisible force, crashing into one of the pillars.

The Ranger Wraiths ganged up on the White Turbo Ranger, who began to expertly fight off the creatures. However, number was a contributing factor and soon enough the Wraiths began to pound on the Turbo Ranger until he could no longer defend himself and was close to unconsciousness. The Wraiths stepped away from the Ranger, who exploded almost suddenly and left only several burnt gears and some small metallic pieces. Both Zedd and Thomas approached the spot where the Ranger had been.

"A robot?" Zedd sounded surprised.

Thomas nodded. "Robot Ranger technology. It was supposed to be a back-up plan in case the real Rangers were somehow out of action. When I left, they were ready to get the skins on."

"I guess our plan has gotten much more complicated."

"Not really," Thomas said, "All Robot Rangers have a weakness to polaron energy. I'm assuming your Ranger Wraiths are powered by this energy, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to take this guy out with ease."

Zedd nodded in response. "And yet you defeated my Wraiths easily."

Thomas ignored that last comment. "Let's keep moving."

---

Battle reports from all corners of the universe were scattered in piles all over Astronema's office, reports that did nothing more than take up precious space. Of the hundreds of thousands of datapads scattered throughout, Astronema didn't bother to read any of them, as they all conveyed reports of imminent victory at hand or attained. She knows this because in a short while, the emerald planet known as Earth and its pitiful human population will be under her rule to do as she pleases. Just the thought of ruling over that world excited her to no Astronema noticed the large object that had just been moved into her office, covered in rags and drapes. After several moments, the Quantrons whom carried the object removed the various coverings, revealing a energy tube with a familiar floating head inside, much to Astronema's delight.

"Welcome, Zordon, to the end of your era," she said spitefully, "I'm sorry I delayed the inevitable extinguishing of your life force, but I wanted you alive to witness my greatest triumph before I drain the last of your power. It is only a matter of time before you are gone forever."

"You will never succeed, Astronema," Zordon said, "You'll fail just like the rest of them have."

"I doubt that very much," Astronema countered, "None of them had ever devised an attack as massive and as complex as this. And none of them possess the weapon that I will use to destroy the world they had a hard time conquering!"

Astronema slowly approached a nearby console and tinkered with it. As she did so, the viewer shifted images of Alliance forces conquering various worlds easily, while other worlds are still in rough conflict. Astronema didn't concern herself with the few battles still being fought, because it'll be a short time before the Alliance declares absolute victory over their enemies.

"Karone, you can still stop this."

Astronema winced for a moment, attracting Ecliptor's notice but not enough for him to be concerned and worried over his princess, who shook off the momentary stun to address the captive Zordon.

"That name has no meaning to me," she spat, "And now, if you will excuse me, I have a planet to destroy."

With that, both Astronema and her bodyguard left for the hangar bay, leaving Zordon alone to contemplate his fate as well as those who continue to fight the Alliance. Even in his infinite wisdom, Zordon felt this to be a losing battle.

---

"Eminence, we've lost one of our Robot Ranger signals in the outer sanctum of the capital."In a darkened control room within the main Eltarian palace, a cloaked figure approaches one of the officers pointing to a radar screen. The cloaked commander studied the radar closely, then approached the console on the other side of the room. With his clawed hands, he picked up a delicate headset and placed it over his head before speaking into the mic.

"My prince, one of our Robot Ranger drones have been deactivated... Yes, I will send a battalion into the area to investigate as you command, Lordship... Of course, sir."

The cloaked monster removed his headset and placed it on the console, then turned to the nearest Putty. "Send in a full battalion of Robot Rangers into the area and fortify the front gate. If it truly is an insurgent invasion force, they're not going to catch us defenseless."

The Putty nodded and turned to a small box of keys. With a few quick strokes and the pulling of the switch, the main gate of the palace opened and from within emerged hundreds of Robot Ranger drones of varying colors. All of them were morphed and seemed posed to defend their main base.

**End EIGHT**


	9. Seven

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Seven**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

Most of the known universe is at war, embroiled in a bitter conflict between good and evil. A war in which the climax is close at hand.

The United Alliance of Evil, after generations of disposition, had finally fulfilled the United part of their name and began a conflict that had won them many worlds, torn down opposing empires, and most of all, resulted in the capture of the Eltarian sage called Zordon, who was seen as an icon to those who know his name. The fall of Eltare, the capital world of good, also dealt a crippling blow that left the enemies of the Alliance horribly demoralized. Despite this, those who could fight would fight and the Alliance's advances would be slowed.

In the end, all their struggles would be for naught. The final battle saw all progress good had made suddenly blown away by a ferocious hurricane in the form of what would be considered the Alliance's final plan. It seemed crazy to attempt a full-on conquest of the universe, but crazy works. Now the Alliance is on the verge of total conquest.

On Earth, a massive space armada surrounds the planet's orbit while battles are waged on the surface. Futile efforts to repel the Alliance invaders cause nothing but destruction and waste of resources. Humans are a strange lot, but they will soon be enslaved or destroyed; whichever is preferable in Astronema's mind, who heads the battle of Earth. Things have been going rather well in her eyes and with the Power Rangers in retreat and subterfuge, she felt the time was appropriate to prepare for the final blow.

---

From his personal command chamber aboard the flagship, the fallen king Mondo watched as the battle in space for control of the Machine Empire and its colonies raged on. His antiquated fighters were no match for Aradon's black-skinned quadrafighters, but the VF-20 Velocifighters he had kept on reserved were doing most of the dirty work. The Skybases were both evenly matched, only those under Mondo's command had the most experienced crew functioning them while Aradon's crews were makeshift bionoids who were essentially off the shelf. In his mind, the battle was already won, but Mondo's processing unit thought better of it. Rather than read the various statistic reports, he simply looked out the viewport and watched the firefight continue.

Within the lower atmosphere of Gorah Khan, quadrafighters can be seen ramming into each other, skybases embroiled in bitter dogfights, and new Stinger fighters flying about, taking out just about anything in their way. Within the outer radius of the central capital, Quadracrawlers of Mondo are held off by Aradon's own crawlers, which tend to release small spiderbots to infiltrate enemy crawlers or simply try to dismantle some of the Cog foot soldiers, who were having a hard enough time with the more advanced bionoids and Cogdeka assault troopers under the emperor's command.

Within the safety of his command bunker, Aradon stared into the battle display, watching the aerial and spatial battles in progress. For the moment, his own loyalist forces were keeping Mondo's armies at bay, but they were slowly losing ground and the enemy was close to breaking through. He has the gratitude of knowing that it will take them a long time before the battle reaches planetside, but knowing that it eventually will, he was instrumental in preparing for such a scenario. After a standard Earth hour had passed of battles, Aradon flicked a switch that activated the universal comm system that only his loyalist forces has access to. With a heavy heart, Aradon uttered the command he had hoped never to give.

"All troops," he said, "Execute Command Zero immediately."

From there, he slowly stood up and approached one of his guards by the bunker exit. "Come with me to the armory."

---

"What's the status of the new torpedoes?" Ecliptor heard Astronema ask him as he watched two Quantrons loaded a chrome-like torpedo into a Velocifighter.

"Both Torpedo 1 and Torpedo 2 have been tested and are being loaded onto this Velocifighter as we speak," the bodyguard told her, "But because of the suddenness of this attack, we've managed only three torpedoes." He briefly pointed to the silver-plated warheads being armed into the fighter's launcher. "These two being loaded have been modified with the most high-end shield technology we could develop."

"Excellent. The entire planet destroyed in one shot," Astronema said, "And no one will see it coming. What about the third torpedo?"

"It is in the main torpedo launcher of the other Dark Fortress," Ecliptor replied, "That torpedo is armed with a rotating shield system, but should only be used as a last resort."

Astronema nodded. "Chances are we won't even need that last resort."

---

_An entire planet? Or something the size of a planet._

Overhearing the conversation, the bounty hunter Darkonda was hidden behind a barrier of stacked crates and metal barrels where those close by were oblivious to his presence. With the secluded area, he pulled out a scroll which had seven renderings of himself; all but one were stricken with a drawn line, indicating that he had used up all but one of his reserve lives. If he was going to die this time, it was going to be for something.

_This is my last chance to redeem myself for being played like a fiddle by the likes of Astronema and Dark Specter._

He slipped the scroll back and activated his stealth power, rendering himself invisible. Using a bit of subterfuge, he made his way to the Velocifighter armed with the two torpedoes and entered into the cockpit. A quick study showed that all systems were set and all he had to do was start up the engines, which he did. A couple of the Quantrons around the fighter backed off in surprise as they witness the fighter with no pilot lift up and fly out of the hangar and into space.

Darkonda got out of his stealth mode and witnessed the battle fleet under Astronema's command. Now that he had access to powerful weapons, he began phase two of his plan and sent out a broadband radio signal that none of the ships present could trace or detect... all but one being can hear it and knows its purpose. Moments of evading enemy fire later, Darkonda smiles devilishly as the monarch Dark Specter appears before Astronema, who should be briefing him on progress despite not having summoned him. The false signal had accomplished its purpose and Specter took the bait.

"Better than I planned," Darkonda gleamed, "Now to finish this."

With slow engine speed, the strafing run could be called anything but, but neither Dark Specter nor Astronema noticed his approach. With his finger etched to the trigger and his palms sweating like never before, Darkonda continued his approach to Dark Specter until his targeting equipment confirmed a lock with a continuous beeping sound. The bounty hunter smiled as he took one final look at the Alliance monarch before he pulled the trigger and the torpedo sped out of its launcher.

"Good-bye, Dark Specter," he said as he witnessed the torpedo speeding towards Dark Specter's neck. "Time to die."

What followed was a loud shrieking that even the vacuums of space could not contain, as Dark Specter growled at the intense pain that shot throughout his body. Looking over himself, the Alliance monarch saw chunks of his hard stone-like body exploded and ripped apart. He found some strength to turn and witness the Velocifighter who had launch the weapon go for another pass. With his life force slowly fading away, Specter attempted to gather enough energy for a high concussion blast to destroy Darkonda, who was already flying the fighter on a collision course with the monarch. At the same instant, both launched their projectiles and both projectiles had made their mark. The torpedo from the fighter was enough to not drain Dark Specter of his remaining energy, but shatter his body apart, sending hundreds of meteors spiraling throughout space.

Meanwhile, the projectile had disabled the Velocifighter and Darkonda found himself losing control of the craft as the control panels and outer armor began to glow an orange color. He started feeling warm and before he knew it, the Velocifighter erupted into a flaming ball of twisted metal that flew towards the surface of Earth's moon. Darkonda, once again, had been killed, but at least this time, he died knowing that he took the leader of the United Alliance of Evil down to Hell with him.

---

Within the safety of her office within the Dark Fortress, both Ecliptor and Astronema stared out the viewport, baring witness to all that has happened in disbelief. It was one thing to have planned for something like this to happen, but they never actually expected Dark Specter to actually be destroyed in one swoop by an underling of all people. For the first time since her reprogramming, Astronema was in shock of what has happened. She emoted.

"He's gone," Astronema said, "For good."

Hard to believe that he is dead, but her own eyes couldn't deceive her. Ecliptor, for a long time silent, slowly walked up to her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Congratulations, my princess," added Ecliptor, "Or should I say 'my queen'?"

She stared blankly and shocked at her bodyguard and closest confidant as the sudden realization hit her like a hard shot to the face. She was considered to be Dark Specter's second-in-command and heir. With Dark Specter gone, she was now in command of the Alliance. The self-proclaimed "princess of evil" had just become the queen.

"Get the comm system back online," she ordered, "It's time to make my coronation official."

---

The space debris of the massive explosion in space had already reached across various points of Earth and other surrounding worlds. Although they are quick-dropping objects that are superheated due to passing through the atmosphere, they do not cause any damage; they merely deflect off the ground or anything else that got in the way.

"What happened?" a coarse Ashley asked.

The answer came in the form of the double-tone from the Rangers' communicator. Andros was the first to activate his and almost immediately, Alpha Six broke out the news in a tone that would be considered to be in shock.

"Rangers, Dark Specter has been destroyed."

It almost sounded too good to be true, but the falling rocks proved otherwise. Before any of the Rangers could ask about who was in charge of the Alliance, the ghostly image of Ecliptor appeared in the sky, his bellows prompting everyone to stop their actions and look up to the sky.

"Dark Specter has been destroyed," he declared (almost proudly), earning groans and moans in response. "As a result, Astronema, princess of evil and heir to Dark Specter, is now the leader of the Alliance. It is for her that we fight and for her, we shall win the war."

All the Earth-born Space Rangers gasp in horror, but Andros remains silent as he stares up into the astral ghost of Ecliptor, who is soon replaced with the image of Astronema looking over them. The image of Astronema looking blindly over her new subservient does not only resonate on Earth in various corners of the globe, but also across other wartorn planets as well as those still fighting. For a brief moment, everything around Andros seemed to slow down and stop as the revelation of Astronema's ascension to the top sank in.

It should have killed any chances of getting his sister back, but all it did was increase his resolve to get her back.

The transmission of Astronema's abrupt promotion was transmitted throughout the universe, so there wasn't anyone who hadn't gotten the news. Worlds in dispute, worlds under the Alliance's command, and even Worlds that are not involved in the fighting received the transmission. For most Alliance members, the news is met with a mix of confusion and indifference. But for the major Alliance powers, the news is met with downright hostility. For them, having to follow another monster who has held on to the throne due to reputation alone was bad enough, but it was an insult to have to follow a human, let alone one from a long dead world. Nonetheless, no action would be held against her.

At least, not yet.

**End SEVEN**


	10. Six

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Six**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

The haunting shell of the command Dark Fortress slowly came into view to the people of the ravaged town of Angel Grove during the silent afternoon hours. It was mostly silent due to the lack of fighting, since the Space Rangers had been repelled and possibly driven away. The five de-morphed teens, who gathered with the rest of the crowds, looked on intently as the fortress slowly made its way towards the top of one of the high buildings still standing, where it slowed down to a halt and levitated over the building.

After what seemed like agonizing moments, a green beam shot from the underside of the command base and everyone cowered. The beam did not destroy the building, but instead from the beam emerged two figures. One was a black-skinned grid warrior, while the other was a human female... and new leader of the United Alliance of Evil.

Within the small crowd, the Rangers looked on as Astronema watched over the crowd like a ruler would over her disloyal subjects. Random thoughts ran through their heads, but only one thought passed through the mind of Andros that would dominate his thoughts ever since the news of her ascension to her current rank had been announced. That this was all a dream and that he would save his sister from the spell that still controlled her mind.

"People of Earth," Astronema called out, "For those who don't know me - and I promise, after today that number has been reduced significantly - I am Astronema. Today you have witnessed a fraction of the power I have at my disposal! Even as we speak, forces fighting under the banner of the United Alliance of Evil are emerging victorious and most of the universe have either surrendered or been conquered.

"I can see a bunch of ragged, dirty, fallen Earthers in the crowd." She quickly scanned the crowd as she spoke. "And yet I see some people are conspicuously missing. I don't see those Power Rangers. Where are those heroes of yours now? Hiding among you in disgrace because my forces had beaten them senseless!" A brief smattering of concerned gasps and mumblings follows, which Astronema lets on before she continues. "This is not acceptable! I achieve my greatest triumph and the Rangers are in hiding! I should probably take my frustration out on all of you and end your pitiful little lives once and for all!

"But I'm not going to do that," she said, much to Ecliptor's surprise - or lack thereof. "At least not now. Instead I'm going to give you Earthers a chance to save yourselves. All you have to do is produce the Rangers and your world will be spared. If they are not here by tomorrow morning, then I will destroy this planet and kill everyone on it." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in before continuing. "I hope for your sake that you will do the... right thing."

And with that, the new Queen of Evil and her consorts returned to the Dark Fortress, just as quickly as they appeared. Soon the Fortress slowly flew out of sight and into orbit, leaving behind millions of frightened humans.

---

On the bridge of his flagship, Mondo had seen the declaration of Astronema as Alliance leader and brushed it off as insignificant. He had also seen reports related to other parts of the galaxy, where the Alliance has either conquered or are in the process of conquering a majority of worlds. Of course, Mondo knows that despite their great numbers, the Alliance can't hold this galaxy down forever.

_Not as long as there's resistance_, Mondo thought, _and not as long as their forces are spread out._

His thoughts were interrupted with the abrupt rocking of the ship. He veered towards the main viewer to see a couple of Alliance cruisers - under his command no less - suddenly open fire on his own ship. Almost immediately, his own fighter squadrons had launched to counter the sudden defectors, but Mondo realized that the number grew from a few vessels to a dozen. To say that Mondo was shocked and angered was an extreme understatement and his body quickly vented gas.

"What in blazes is going on?" Mondo shouted, "Why are Squadrons C and D attacking us?"

"It must have been some hidden protocol Aradon planted into some of the Cogs, my liege," Venjix reported, "I am getting similar reports from ships in Squadrons 3F through 8P."

None of what Venjix was saying registered to Mondo as he looked in horror at the fiercesome firefight breaking out of control in orbit of the Machine homeworld. Suddenly, Quadrafighters and other scout fighters that had launched off from the planet below or the various capital ships under Aradon's command made their attack runs, opening fire on Mondo's loyalist star cruisers. From the very star cruisers formerly under his command launched several more fighters. In mere seconds, hundreds of thousands of Machine ships were firing upon each other, not caring about who they hit or who they destroy. Mondo watched as his glorious plot of retaking the Empire slowly crumbled before his eyes.

To Venjix, he said, "General, make a run for the capital. I have an impromptu meeting with the so-called Emperor and I have no intention of being late."

Venjix complied and started barking orders to other Cogs while Mondo made his way off the bridge.

---

"It won't be long." The words spoken from Ninjor were cold, devoid of emotion; the opposite of his usually cheerful demeanor. Although he could clearly see his surroundings, he was quickly going color-blind. Shades of grey were the only thing he would be to see in a short time.

"Ninjor, try to stay with me." Kimberly had already wrapped the open wound with as many cloths and rags as she could possibly find, but no matter how many layers she added, the blood slowly continued to trickle through the wrappings and leak to the ground, where a slowly growing puddle of crimson liquid laid calmly.

"Kim, don't," Ninjor pleaded, coughing every few words, "It's already too... too late for me."

"No, it's not. You just have to..." She turned away in frustration and took a long breath before she turned back to the ailing master. "I can't fight all those guys on my own! Even with these new powers, I can't face those odds!"

Ninjor shook his head weakly; even that was a struggle. "You won't have to. Not if this enchantment works."

Kim raised an eyebrow. "What enchantment?"

"Infusing my life force into you."

Kimberly's jaw dropped in response, not believing what she had just heard. "Come again?"

"My life is ending... whether I bleed to death or not. But once I'm dead, my powers and secrets will be vulnerable for the taking. By transferring my life force to you... it'll ensure its safe-keeping and..." A hard cough interrupted him before he continued on. "And it'll be of great help to you... in the battle... against the evil forces."

Kim stood there shaking her head and holding both hands out. "I can't do this, Ninjor. It's too much."

"You're a... an honorable person with a good heart," the ninja master stammered, "It's also because you... you could use the power coin's true... power without going... insane."

"I've felt pain when it happened," Kimberly argued. "I don't think I can handle it."

"With my essence, you will learn how to harvest the power, learn to resist the... pains..."

"If that was the case," the former Pink Ranger replied, "Then why was this recent instead of when I was still a Ranger?"

"The knowledge implied use of the original coin," Ninjor said, "And if they lacked power, the knowledge was useless."

"Until the coin gradually regained its power." She heard herself mutter out and suddenly, it seemed all the more clearer. "Is that why I could do this power booster you told me about? Because it's all premeditated?"

"It's a little... more complicated than that," Ninjor struggled to get the words out. "But... I can't properly... explain it... with words... You'll know more about it... if we do this..."

Kimberly gave the plan a little more thought and in her heart, she knew that this was the only option available to them. That didn't make it any easier, but Kim knew that there was never such a thing as an easy decision. So after some hesitation, she had made her decision.

"Alright," she replied, "When do we begin?"

---

"I'm telling you guys one thing. I don't care how high the stakes are, I am never gonna ride that shuttle ever again!"

The voice of Rocky DeSantos echoed within the strange corridors as he, Adam Park, and Jason Lee Scott walked through several passages. After a light source had mysteriously taken them from the battle-ravaged Angel Grove to a strange area of unknown origin, the three former Power Rangers decided to leave the shuttle and check out the place. A half-hour of scurrying corridors later, the only thing evident about their present location was that there were plenty of corridors and very little doors or entryways to indicate anything.

As they walked through the empty halls, Rocky looked around the corridors a bit, particularly its structure. "You know, these corridors almost look like the ones under the old Command Center."

Adam stopped for a moment and looked around. "You're right, Rocko. Could we be there now?"

"Only one way to find out," Jason said, "Do you remember your way around?"

Neither Adam or Rocky gave an answer, but Jason didn't wait for one. Instead, they kept walking down the corridor. For the next hour, all they did was navigate through an endless network of corridors which all seemed the same. It wasn't until they reached a large heavy door that things were looking up. The three former Rangers kept their distance from the door, not knowing what to expect. Much to their surprise, though, the doors opened and within it was a darkened chamber that was indistinguishable from where they were, yet bore an aura of familiarity. For some time, the three were somewhat hesitant in actually entering the door.

"Any takers?" Jason asked.

Rocky shrugged. "Your call, man."

Jason sighed. "Let's do it."

Rocky looked up and let out a hard breath as Jason and Adam stepped through the doors. After some hesitation, Rocky followed and looked around a little more closely at the darkened room. After taking a few steps, the doors that the three entered the room with closed by itself and faded from view, startling the three.

"What's going on here?" Rocky asked.

"Don't ask, Rocko," Adam replied matter-of-factly. "I'm just about as confused as you are."

Jason didn't say anything, but did take note of his surroundings. The chamber they were was eerily similar to the original Command Center, but the overall design, choice of colors, and dim lighting made it seem as though this particular chamber was older than any of the chambers he had seen before in his Ranger years. Although he was certain that he's never been here before, he couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarly and nostalgia, something he wouldn't have been feeling this unless he had been here before.

As the three Rangers got closer to the set of consoles, they noticed two familiar characters working on opposite sides of the circular platform. One of them, a well-built young adult in his early twenties, took noticed at the three new arrivals and momentarily waved his hand.

"Hey guys," the other person greeted, a young thirteen-year-old boy who was also working with the console.

"Billy? Justin?" Rocky was confused. "What's going on?"

"No time to explain right now," Billy said, "We need to commence Stage Two of the experiment."

"What experiment?" Adam asked, puzzled.

"_Project Prodigy_" was Billy's sole reply.

Rocky and Adam momentarily dropped their jaws at the mention of Prodigy. Although they have heard of _Project Prodigy_ at some point or another during their Ranger runs, they had no idea as to what it actually was. Jason, who also had no idea as to what the project referred to, simply looked at Billy in awe. He shook away the feeling when the weight of the situation at hand came to light.

"I'd hate to break this to you, man," Jason said bluntly, "but we have a full-scale invasion all over the universe."

"So I've heard," Billy said, "All the more reason to commence Stage Two."

"I don't believe this," Rocky blurted out, "what could be so special about this _Project Prodigy _thing that it's much more important than trying to end this war?"

Billy stopped working and sighed before giving his newly arrived friends his straight but simple answer. "Because if Stage 2 goes through, we can win this war."

---

On the planet Nemesis, a growing group of monsters stand before a rock formation that leads to Ninjor's temple of power; a temple whose entrance is currently sealed by interdimensional magic and a blockade that resulted from a potent spell of the ninja master. To that end, after some time of trying to "dig out" an entrance with their hands, they've decided on a new method of entry, one that would gain them instant access to the temple. Even now, a small group of soldiers are in the early stages of assembling a device that will hopefully re-open the portal to the hidden temple. It'll take some time for the device to completed and even then, an hour might be needed before the assembled device can be activated.

In any case, they have patience. Because the Temple will fall...

**End SIX**


	11. Five

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Five**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

Night had fallen upon the ravaged city of Angel Grove.

Although the fighting and struggling had stopped, the peace was anything but inviting. In fact, most of the people were either worried or downright terrified, knowing well that the momentary cease fire was only the calm before the storm. Some had given up hope, some had believed that the Rangers had been soundly defeated, while others believed that they couldn't handle the pressure and fled with their tails tucked between their legs. But even among those who have lost hope, a few still cling to the chance that they will pull out of this slump and come back fighting.

Within the shadows of wreckage, Ashley Hammond overheard the conversation among a group of civilians who were discussing that which had lingered in the minds of everyone in the city. Comments of defeat, hopeless, and cowardice had made her burden heavier than before. Not even the positive attitudes of Bulk and Skull, who had assured the depressed group that the Rangers had never let them down before and that this time would be no different, could change her outlook. Having heard enough and unable to hold back the tears she fought so hard to keep in, Ashley gently walked from the group and made her way through rubble and debris to another part of the ravaged city where the depowered Space Rangers had set up camp. It was well-hidden, assuring no surprise ambushes from Alliance troops positioned at various points in the city.

She saw Carlos, Cassie, and TJ discussing tactics and options over their next course of action. After a careful study of their faces, Ashley could tell that even their confidence in their own abilities are far from high. Nonetheless, they managed to put up a strong face and Ashley, wiping the tears and thin layer of dust off her face, regained her composure and approached the group.

"People are worried," she interrupted the group, who all turned to her. "Worried that we've abandoned them."

TJ stood up to lay a comforting arm on Ashley, at which point Andros emerged from the shadows. All eyes turned to the current Red Ranger. "Any sign of Zhane?"

Andros shook his head. "I've found the wreckage of the Megawinger about a few blocks away, but no sign of Zhane."

"Maybe we can rally some of the locals to form a resistance." Carlos made the suggestion with a bit of uncertainty because he believed it seemed like a logical yet untried strategy. After all, the Rangers have tried hard not to have civilian involvement in their conflicts.

"We can't risk the lives of civilians in a futile struggle," Andros said prompting all eyes on him, "Terrans have never faced alien invaders of this magnitude and would be maimed needlessly unless they're wearing special colored costumes we don't know about. And I seriously doubt that."

"They'll be killed either way if we lose," Carlos said, "So might as well go down fighting."

"We can't risk the lives of civilians," added TJ, "Unless they all have their own morphers, it'll be slaughter. We'll have to find another way."

"There is one way," Andros offered, "If I can get into the Dark Fortress, I still think I can get through to my sister. Maybe I can talk her into stopping all this."

"And you were saying my plan was futile?" Carlos quipped, "Man, she'll kill you first chance she gets."

"She's my sister," Andros retorted, "She won't hurt me."

"They've changed her into something worse. For all we know, she destroyed Dark Specter to take the reigns of the Alliance herself." TJ gave his words some thought, laying a hand on his longtime friend's shoulder. "I hate to have to tell you this, but she's not your sister. Not anymore."

"I'll never accept that," he spat.

"Look, we're not trying to make an issue out of this," TJ said, "but just think about this. The Alliance is the only sense of family she's ever got in her life. She just found out you're her brother a short time ago. Do you really think she'll betray all she's known just because you say it isn't right?"

"She's my sister," he said again, this time in a much more fragile tone.

"The question is does she believe that?" Cassie said.

"Look, I'm willing to give this a try," Andros stated, undeterred by what the others have said, "If it means losing my life to save hers and bring her back into the light, it's an acceptable risk. I need to do this."

Carlos got up slowly. "Okay, so let's assume you're right and you might have a chance. How do you know where to find her? According to the last news broadcast, there are a dozen spaceships up in space. Not to mention two Dark Fortresses that happen to look the same."

Andros didn't reply. T.J.'s eyes narrowed as he slowly approached Andros, who was expecting a verbal lashing for what he had suggested. Instead, TJ placed a hand of Andros' shoulder and said, "If you're going through with this, at least let us go with..."

"Forget it, Teej," Andros interrupted in a calm voice, "I'll stand a better chance of going alone than if we went together. You need to save your world. Do whatever you can."

TJ didn't say a word. He couldn't think of anything else to add to the matter - there was nothing more to be said except "good luck." So he simply nodded and turned towards the other Rangers in order to work on a plan to turn things around. Andros turned and headed towards a secluded area. After searching the area for any local folk, he pulled out his communicator unit and dialed in his co-ordinates. Just as he was ready to go, he noticed Ashley approaching him and for a while, he just stood there as she got closer, unable to think up anything to say.

"You can't just..."

He laid a finger on her lips, silencing her. "I have to." His voice was soft and cool, as though he was trying to convey his deepest feelings for her. "You know that."

"_Andros, we're set to go,_" a voice Ashley was unfamiliar with chimed from his morpher. "_Be ready to teleport in one minute._"

Andros absently raised his wrist to his mouth so he could reply, his eyes still staring to Ashley's. "Whenever you're ready, William."

He took a step back from Ashley. who just looked at him in surprise. "You mean you had this planned? From the beginning?"

Andros only half-smiled. "Not quite from the beginning. More like several minutes ago." He went closer to her and took her hand, stroking it gently. "If I don't see you again..."

Ashley puts a finger to Andros' lips, just as he had done earlier. "I will see you again. That much, you can be sure of."

"Right," Andros said as he took a couple steps away from Ashley, trying to hold back some of the tears that were stinging his eyes. For some time, the two looked each other in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity, but more like several seconds. Before Ashley could utter another word, she watched as Andros' form vanished in a blaze of red light. She found herself following the red trail with her eyes until it was out of sight. In some strange way, she knew he would be fine. After a few moments, Ashley turned and rejoined the others, who didn't notice Andros leaving.

---

"Sir, we must not delay! We must launch the offensive now!"

The Japanese general shook his head, earning a look of shock from the two officers that stood before him. If one would look at the wide room-sized window of the situation room, they would see a tropical island in flames, with various monsters slumbering about on their dying breaths as the wave of meteor rocks fell from the blackened sky. While the rocks were harmless to humans, they were deadly to the inhabiting monsters, and one by one, the monsters of the Japanese military installation known as Monster Island were dying off in a whimper. Just a short while ago, the general was ready to launch an offensive against the invaders, but that was before... this devastation. And when the satellite images revealed the size of the fleet, he felt worse.

"She controls the Earth now," the general said bitterly, "Our monsters are all destroyed by the meteors."

"It's not all lost, General," the officer replied enthusiastically, "We still have the five experimental Arwings fighters designed for space flight."

"Five Arwings against an entire armada in space?" the general cried incredulously in response. "You think this is just some Nintendo game we're playing here? Those aliens will destroy those fighters without a second thought! Humans will be an extinct species on this planet!"

"Act rationally, sir!" the second officer said, "We still have the chance. If necessary, we will activate the fighters and boost them to full power. The aliens know we are weakened and they won't expect an aggressive assault, not at our current state."

"And as a last resort, we have the Jet Icarus attack force," the first officer interjected. "Five tactical assault jets configured to assemble into a battle mecha with enough power to destroy a small island." He gathered his thoughts for a moment. "All we need is your authorization to make the appropriate preparations for combat. We'll handle the rest."

"With all due respect, sir, we still have a chance to win," the second officer added, "Are you willing to take it?"

The general considered his options; either send the attack force or just sit there and wait for the end to come. Neither one was a truly appealing option, as he believed both would lead to imminent defeat and subsequent destruction. In the end, though, the general believed that if this planet would be conquered or destroyed, it wouldn't be without a fight. He saw that now, more than ever. With newfound determination, the general turned to the two officers and uttered only one word; the only word either officer really needed.

"Go."

---

Within the caverns and inner corridors of the Temple of Power laid Ninjor's meditation quarters. It is here where the Ninja Master and eons-old arcane specialist had created the original eight power coins and drew up plans for the original Ninjazords and Aquitian Battleborgs. Other than for deep meditation and for thinking through difficult decisions, it is a chamber that Ninjor had rarely ever occupied, if at all. Aside from being a well-hidden chamber perfect for maintaining some semblance of privacy, it was cramped, poorly lit with two simple candles seemingly close to burning out, and the room bore a fairly unforgiving stench that seemed to have been around for a long time.

Therefore, he found it funny that it would be his resting place, as he limped his way to the quarters with Kimberly's help. Although the excessive bleeding from the open wound had stopped more than an hour ago, both of them were completely covered in the crimson liquid from the waist down. When they reach the quarters, Ninjor waved off Kim, who let go and watched as he grabbed onto a wall railing with both hands to make his way towards the plain altar. When he got there, Ninjor dropped to his knees and began to breathe heavily, prompting Kim to rush over to him. Ninjor waved her off again and when Kim took a step back, Ninjor managed whatever strength he could to stand and walk behind the altar to face Kim.

"What we are about to do will has never been done in ages," he said, making an effort to speak clearly. "In fact, it had only been performed six times in all and only one had been accomplished successfully." He weakly thrust his hand forward and soon a chalice of liquid formed in his hand. "If we are successful in this procedure, you will attain my life essence, along with all the knowledge to use it wisely."

"And if we fail?" Kim asked.

"We both die and both our souls are ripped asunder." His words were straight, to the point, and downright depressing despite his weak state.

"That's bad."

"Yes... ugh!" Ninjor winced as he felt pain from the wound. "We haven't much time left. We must start this now."

"So what do we do?" Kim asked, eager to get this done.

"We shall both drink from the chalice and then..." Ninjor paused, as if trying to remember. "And then, we'll... find out."

Kimberly didn't say anything. Instead, she reached for the chalice, took a small sip from it, and passed it on to Ninjor, who took the chalice and placed it back on the altar. Kim wondered about how Ninjor could drink, but then she felt dizzy for a second. When her head cleared, she no longer found herself in the dingy meditation quarters, but in an endless white void that seemed both strange and familiar at the same time. She looked down on herself to find his clothing clean and free of blood, then turned to her right and saw Ninjor in pristine condition. Judging from his stance, he seemed to be in perfect health.

"Where am I?"

"This is white space," Ninjor said, sounding much more energetic than a few seconds before she was brought to this state of being. "This is where you'll be for the moment."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing."

Kim shook her head in disbelief. "This is supposed to be life-threatening? We just stand here and do absolutely nothing! What? Did the other five times be failures because the participants did something and then poof!"

The ninja master gave a hearty laugh in response. "Oh, don't worry about it, kiddo. You'll do just fine."

"Why are you so sure about that?" asked Kim, "And why do you think I'm worth bestowing this? Other than the fact that I'm the only other human on the planet."

"I assure you, Kimberly, that is far from the reason I brought you here to begin with," Ninjor said, "All of you Rangers have admirable qualities that would be advantage to the success of this. But you're the only one to have a specific link to the power."

Kimberly shook her head, unable to grasp what Ninjor was saying. "What link?"

It took a brief moment for Ninjor to answer. "Several years ago, you came into contact with someone who bore possession of the Eighth power coin."

"That's right," said Kimberly, recalling the brief encounter with the coin bearer. "It was a girl named Gillian... or at least, I think that was her name." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I met her again some time later, but she didn't seem to know me. Or something. I'm confused"

Ninjor raised his hand. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry I asked. I'll just get to the point. So she was on Earth for a short time."

"That's right," Kim replied, "Just before we met you."

"And no doubt she was discovered to be in possession of the Eighth Coin?"

"Yes."

"And at some point during the conflict, you were knocked unconscious momentarily and the coin bearer, Gillian, had used the coin to restore you to consciousness. Shortly thereafter, the battle ended and she left with the coin in her possession and a galaxy full of monsters in pursuit. Am I recounting these events correctly?"

Kim placed a hand over her head briefly, then let it drop. "I was out for most of it, but I'd say you're right on."

"The coin did more than just break your state of unconsciousness. It left behind a permanent presence your own life force. That permanent, regardless of whatever power drain, bodily harm, or ailments inflicted, can never be severed with the possible exceptions of either the coin's destruction or your own demise. It wouldn't have come into play until it had matured. And that, my dear, is why you were able to utilize your own power coin's other powers. And that's why this ordeal will be successful."

Kim took in a long breath. "I hope you're right, Ninjor. Because I'd hate to spend my last days in the middle of nowhere... literally."

---

Eltare. The homeworld of the sage Zordon. The first casualty of the Alliance heavily defended and in control of the United Alliance of Evil, it is not safe from conflict. Above the planet and within the atmosphere, mighty starships lock horns in a struggle for dominance. Neither side had gain a significant advantage, but one wrong move can turn the tide. So far, none were made. But the true battle had yet to begun - as an assault group of Ranger Wraiths and Tenga Knights approached the shining crystal citadel that had served as the main headquarters of the Eltarian government. The strangest aspect of this group was not its complement, but rather on the two beings who lead it - two beings whom, at one point, despised each other like nothing more. But for the time being, both fleshman Lord Zedd and Ranger Thomas Oliver had agreed to put aside their differences to reclaim the planet. Or at least, that is what Zedd told Thomas, who is still weary of Zedd's true motives.

"There it is," the fleshman called in reference to the twin spires. "The Capital Palace, our target, is dead ahead."

Thomas stood ahead of Zedd and took a long look at the palace. "You don't really think that they'll just let us in, do you?"

"Of course not," Zedd replied, "I hope they send their robots after us. Let's go."

After several minutes of walking, the group were standing before the stairs leading up to the main door. Around the same time, from hidden entry points, several groups of color-coordinated Robot Rangers emerged and formed a blockade between the group and the entrance. Shortly, the blockade was joined by Quantrons of black, gold, and silver varieties, as well as the rare but deadly Iron Golem foot soldiers. Finally, yet another group of Robot Rangers appeared and formed the final blockade.

"That's a lot of Turbo Rangers," Thomas said smugly, "Maybe you should have stayed in retirement."

Zedd didn't reply. He looked intently on as the group of multi-colored Ranger bots summoned their respective power weapons, which were replicas of those used by the original Turbo Ranger teams on which these robots were based upon. Quantrons wielded their weapons while Iron Golems pulled out various swords, axes, and stone clubs. At the same time, Ranger Wraiths summoned their own weapons - swords, axes, blasters, and other weapons - while Thomas pulled out Saba before discarding the jacket and Zedd summoned his curved saber out of thin air.

"If you have morphing powers, I suggest you use them," the fleshman advised, "This could be a little rough."

"Nah," Thomas said, ignoring the trail of sweat riding down his face. "Where's the fun in that?"

And before anyone knew it, without warning and with no turning back, both armies clashed with each other and the brutal, bloody battle for control of the planet Eltare began...

**End FIVE**


	12. Four

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Four**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

On Eltare, in front of the planet's governing headquarters, a great battle was being fought. A battle for control of the planet and one of the key powers in the galaxy. No words were spoken, nor was there banter exchanged. Within the clouds of that world, mighty spaceships clashed. With missiles launched, flak guns fired, and armor plating ripping apart, the battle was every bit as intense as the one on the surface. For the moment, the importance of victory is not in the skies, but within the blood-stained streets of the Eltarian capital. Robot Rangers, reprogrammed by evil Alliance forces, fought feverish but fell before the Ranger Wraiths, created by dark magic and lead by two longtime rivals who, for their own immediate survival, had put aside their differences to work together and reclaim the planet. Only the strained grunts and violent blows of soldiers fighting for their beliefs and leaders did the speaking. The battle continued onward without delay and without an end in sight until one side is completely destroyed.

At this point, the end isn't near. Not even close.

---

The Fourth Chamber seemed bustling with activity, although that isn't really saying much considering this compound was well-hidden and unused in the ages it had existed. While Billy, Justin, and Adam were working with various computer consoles and equipment to go through the motions of initiating something called _Project Prodigy_, Jason sat in a corner, watching the three work their respective magic. Close by, Rocky walked back and forth to check on the three, but in reality, he was just bored, waiting for something - anything - to happen so they could return to the fighting.

"How's it going back there, Rocky?" he asked his replacement.

The former Blue Zeo Ranger shrugged and sat next to the former, original Red Ranger. "From the looks of things, Billy sure knows what he's doing. Which is a good thing, in some cases."

Jason nodded, understanding what Rocky meant. "I never could understand any of that technology. Otherwise I'd have an easy answer for how I managed to summon this Power Sword without a morpher."

"Maybe it's recharged its batteries," Rocky said, "I remember Billy saying something like that."

Jason looked to Rocky. "You mean I could... morph if I wanted to?"

Rocky shook his head. "I don't know. Just as I still don't know how _Prodigy_ is supposed to help end this war."

"I tend to trust Billy's judgment on these things, Rocky," said the original Red Ranger as he glanced over to the workstation where Billy, Adam, and Justin were working. "Even if I haven't a clue as to what he says. There are times when I wish Trini was still here instead of Geneva undergoing the diplomatic trials." The thought of the original Yellow Ranger brought a smile to Jason's face. "Wonder how she's doing now, considering the hell that's going on out there? By the way, did you know she was on her way to becoming a full-fledged ambassador?"

Rocky raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm surprised she wasn't already there considering her track record."

"Trini isn't one to rush things unless she knew what she was doing and even in those cases, she preferred to take things a little slow if it meant learning all the intricate details." Jason couldn't help but let out a strained laugh. "Some people, I suppose, aren't like that."

Rocky turned back to watch the Ranger-gathered workstation before facing Jason with a grin. "Look at it this way, Jason. We now have three geniuses working on this _Prodigy_. Any missed detail would be caught just like that and if Billy's right, we'll use this thing to end the war once and for all."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, bro. I hope you're right." He turned back to the gathering of Rangers. "Think we should join them?"

Rocky thought for a moment and grinned. "Eh, might as well. I'm starting to get bored listening to an old-timer like you."

And so the two Red Rangers got up from their corner of the room and approached the circle of consoles, but not close enough to distract the others from continuing their work. After a while, Billy looked up, smiled, and turned to face the two Rangers outside the circle of consoles.

"Looks like we're ready to commence Stage 2," Billy said approvingly, "All I really need to do is pull the switch."

Rocky waved his hands. "Alright, so let's do it."

"Um, there is a problem," Justin said, "We don't have the password."

Rocky sighed. "Man, this stuff just keeps getting better! And the reason we need a password is because...?"

"Security," Adam answered.

"Since when did Zordon need security?" Rocky asked impatiently.

"Since both the Command Center and the Power Chamber were destroyed by ouitside forces, the computer system of this chamber activated a complete lockdown of all systems, including Prodigy."

Billy tried several different combination of passwords he could think of and inserted all of them one by one. One by one, each password entered was rejected. After the fiftieth attempt was rejected, Billy slammed his fists onto the console in frustration and walked away. Adam quickly glanced at the keypad Billy had used, and after some thought, immediately approached it and studied it.

"What's up, Adam?" asked Justin.

Adam smiled as he fiddled with the rainbow keypad. "If I'm right, then the password is color-based. So..." Then he pushed a sequence of seven colors before pressing the switch. "White, Green, Black, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and Red. The original morphing order of colors."

A few seconds later, a confirmatory tone sounded and the group of former Rangers cheered. Billy walked towards the console and studied the display, which began showing a database of files, information, and other figures. At this point, the doors opened and the small group of former Power Rangers turned to the only entrance of the chamber as a figure emerged.

"Andros," Billy greeted, "Right on time."

"Sorry I'm late," Andros said as the doors closed behind him, "but that corridor is hard to navigate."

Billy nodded. "Understood, now if you can input some of the shuttle command codes, we can begin our plan."

Andros went over to the console and inputted the shuttle codes into the computer database. A short while later, the computer finished processing the information and Billy accessed the memory core of the chamber, downloading all the necessary data into the shuttle's databank.

"I've downloaded everything we might need into the shuttle," Billy told them, "Now all we need is a plan."

"I have something like a plan," Andros said, "But you'll probably won't like what I have to say."

Jason placed a shoulder on the Kerovan's shoulder. "So what else is new? But let's get all we need onto the shuttle first and then we'll discuss your plan."

---

After a routine patrol of rounding up stray prisoners around the planet, Goldar had decided to call it a day. Night had already fallen upon Vika Prime and even though there were enemies to fight, the Titan still needed to eat. After checking up with some Putties, Tengas, and other foot soldiers, he made his way to the small building where Zedd and Rita had taken and made their base of operations. Upon entering the building, Goldar continued his way forward and entered through the door another larger chamber, with barrels of raw meat, fruits, and other foods. Coincidentally, he saw Zedd, who was casually conversing with one of the Rock Putties.

This struck Goldar as odd, since Zedd was never one for idle conversations unless it was over discussing battle plans for the next conquest. But from what he had overheard, it was more about weapons enhancements and vehicle training; something that had never interested Zedd unless it concerned powering his personal warzord, which laid hidden in a secret docking bay on Earth's moon. Zedd, having noticed the Titan, dismissed the Rock Putty, who left through the door.

"Goldar, there you are," the fleshman said as he approached Goldar. "I've been meaning to speak with you."

"Have you now?" the Titan growled, "Perhaps you would like to explain where the master is."

Zedd halted in his tracks. "What are you babbling about?"

The Titan leaned closer to the fleshman. "I know that you are not Lord Zedd, but a pretender to his throne. And I must admit that your ruse has been convincing enough to have myself fooled. But you should have treated your troops with a lot more disregard than you have. Now I want to know the truth."

"Zedd" confirmed the Titan's suspicious with a nod and the use of his real voice. "I suppose I could let you in on a little secret. My name is Flinn and I am under orders from Lord Zedd to oversee his forces here under his name while he is on a mission to claim Eltare."

Goldar recalled Zedd leaving, recalled his sudden return, and change in attitude. He recalled the sudden change of abandoning a long-planned strike against Eltare to follow Dark Specter's orders. He recalled not being able to make any sense of it... until now.

"It all makes some sense now," the Titan said, "But why the pretense?"

"He has his reasons," Flinn said, "Reasons you might know, but others don't. But we must ensure that Rita does not find out about my ruse."

"It's already too late for that, Flinn." The familiar shrieking voice of Rita Repulsa echoed in the chamber, prompting both Flinn and Goldar to turn their attention to the witch. Rita smiled wickedly as she stared attentively at the impersonator, who took a step back. In one quick motion, Rita pointed her Repulsa Staff at the fleshman and from the tip of the weapon shot out a flurry of purple lightning bolts, each of which struck Flinn at various points of the body. Goldar stood back and watched Flinn scream in agony as the various bolts of lightning caused his body to erupt in flames before he eventually exploded into ash, with several fireballs flying from their point of origin.

Goldar looked at the flaming remains of Flinn and then stared intently at Rita, who began to point her still-glowing staff at him. One quick glance at Rita's eyes filled the Titan with a fear that he had not felt since serving Lord Zedd as a novice soldier. He saw something in Rita that he had never seen her possess or at least demonstrate to such extremes. It was a pure, uncontrollable rage that seemingly could not be sated. Knowing this, Goldar awaited the fate he thought would be coming. To his surprise, however, Rita tossed the staff aside and slivered closer to the Titan, who hid his fear well with his intimidating exterior. When she was practically close to him, she laid a single finger on his forehead and smiled. She moved closer, as if to whisper into the warrior's ear.

"Let that be a warning to you, Goldar, and a sample of your fate should you decide to betray me again."

And with that, she turned towards the door, picking up the staff on the way out, and soon Goldar was alone in the chamber with the remains of one of Zedd's agents. And for the first time in his life, Goldar lost his nerve, falling down to his knees and letting out the tears. Whether it was out of sadness, intimidation, or humiliation, Goldar could not know for certain. What he does know is that he needed to think of what to do next. And given the circumstances, his choices were limited.

Suddenly, he wasn't very hungry any more.

---

"My liege, we have arrived above the Gorah Khan capital," one of the Cogs reported as King Mondo was prepping himself for combat, "We are within proximity of launching an air raid, which will decimate most of the bionoid forces."

Mondo looked intently outside the window as the city of the Machine homeworld came into view, the charred smoke and fires the product of bitter conflict between two warring factions for control of the Empire. Mondo didn't care about the loss of troops; they could always be rebuilt. What was important now reclaiming the throne and putting an end to his hated rival. His thoughts reflected back to the past two years, ever since he was stripped of his title and declared a fugitive by Aradon. He thought of all the secret dealings with the Alliance and other less-than-hospitable beings. All of it was touched upon and...

"We have momentary teleportation power, sir," a Cog soldier called, breaking Mondo's thoughts. "We can teleport you into the superstructure whenever you're ready.

Mondo quickly began his march towards the teleportation chamber. "I'm ready now! Let's go!"

After some time, amidst the hard rocking of the flagship due to weapons fire, Mondo and his personnel had reached an area which had been dubbed the teleportation chamber. The chamber itself was a small room which consisted of a makeshift teleportation pad, an aged console used to operate the pad, and loose cable wires laying about the floor hooking both of these contraptions to a power generator on the wall. Pushing aside some of the Cog guards, Mondo made his way to the pad and stepped on it. He saw a Cog officer operating the teleportation console fiddle with a few controls before giving his king the thumbs up. Without hesitation, Mondo was about to say the word when...

"My liege!"

Mondo turned and saw one of his generals, Venjix, entering the chamber. "What is it, General?"

"I have received word from Squadron XB56, sire." Venjix was having a hard time finding the words, so he decided to be straight with it. "I regret to inform you that the ship carrying the Queen Machina and your royal court has been destroyed. The squadron responsible for the attack is in pursuit, but they are getting more"

Mondo turned away for a moment. Although he couldn't cry, he had the urge to break in a tantrum. He couldn't do that here; there was a war to fight. It was hard to cast aside the grief he was feeling for learning of his true family's demise, but he knew such feelings would only hinder his ability to fight this war. He would not give Aradon that satisfaction.

It wasn't long before he turned back to Venjix. "Thank you for the news, General," he said, "But now is not the time for mourning. Now is the time to reclaim what was wrongfully taken from me!"

Turning to the Cog behind the teleportation console, he gave a nod. The Cog respond with a few command inputs and in a short time, Mondo vanished in a streak of orange light. A second later, the console exploded and the chamber lights were cut off, leaving all within the room in darkness.

---

A quick glance from TJ Johnson's still-functioning morpher indicated that it was now 1:13 AM. They had been planning for a counterstrike against Astronema since nine o'clock. Unfortunately, all their planning had produced no definite results and in the end, there wasn't any planned result. So TJ suggested being completely random for the next day and get some shut eye, to which the other three Space Rangers agreed. TJ took a quick glance at each one of them, who were sleeping as comfortably as possible on the ground. Then he glanced towards the night sky, where Andros might be on the Fortress trying to bring Karone back to the light. He knew otherwise, but in his heart, he hoped that he was wrong.

Just as TJ was about to pass out from fatigue, he heard rumbling from the distance... no, it sounded more like the sliding of a manhole cover. Suddenly, he had gotten up to his feet quickly and made his way towards the source of the sound, careful not to make any loud noises to wake the others. When he saw an open lid, he saw someone else emerge from the cover and run to him, recognizing the dirt-covered blond man.

"Zhane! Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Zhane said, dusting off some of the dirt from his ragged clothes, "But I'm going to have to talk to the mayor about its sewer system. I've never seen such a mangled underground network. Damaged or otherwise."

After a while, he turned to TJ. "So what did I miss?"

---

In the hour since the refitted shuttle launched from the former holding bay of the Zeozords, Andros had explained everything he felt was important to the other veteran Power Rangers, whom had listened intently without question. Andros went over the backstory of Astronema, how he had discovered her to be his sister, how he had "saved" her from the clutches of Dark Specter, and how she had been forcibly turned evil again after a failed mission. He recounted the Psycho Ranger incidents, the Secret City projects, and the recent attacks prior to the full-scale invasion that had resulted in the destruction of the Delta Megaship and the Mega-V squadron of attack zords. Finally, he had told them of his plan to board the Dark Fortress and try to break control over Karone with the hope of ceasing this invasion from going further.

When Andros was finished, he immediately assumed the worse when his plan was met with silence. One look at each of the Rangers faces showed that they did find the plan, with its small chance of success, to be downright insane.

"It's a long shot," Jason Scott said, sounding relaxed. "At best, she'll kill you. At worst, she'll eat your heart out. But it seems reasonable in its own insane way."

"Jason's right," Billy concurred, "If you get Astronema... or Karone, whatever... to stop this, it could be beneficial to us. And we'll need all the options we can get."

Adam stiffened as he considered his words. "The way I see it, the situation's pretty bad that you could go either way. You've got nothing to lose, really."

"Nothing to lose?" Justin quipped, "Come on, Adam. This is his sister. I'm pretty sure we'd be doing the same for one of our own."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the Blue Turbo Ranger's query. With only one Ranger remaining, all eyes were Rocky DeSantos, who merely gave a shrug as he said, "Eh, anything's worth a try."

Andros seemed genuinely surprised by the responses his plan had gotten. "I don't believe it," he said, too embarrassed to look up. "I would have expected you guys to tell me that I was being foolish into thinking that Karone could be saved."

Jason shot a wry smile, placing a hand on the Red Space Ranger's shoulder. "I'll have to remember to introduce you to this guy I know when the war's over." He stepped back and turned to Billy, who was fiddling with the shuttle controls. "How are those upgrades running, Bill?"

"Perfectly," the original Blue Ranger said, "The stealth drive to the shuttle is working perfectly and we're headed for the orbiting Dark Fortress as we speak. Hopefully, we won't have to use the other upgrade."

Jason gave a confirming nod and turned to Justin, who was dividing various weapons and pieces of equipment from a metal crate. "Do we have everything we need in that crate?"

"Pretty much," Justin said, "We have a couple laser rifles, a couple Power Blasters, and a few detonators to blow that stupid Frisbee fortress thingy and its buddies out of space."

Jason nodded approvingly. "Have any spare morphers in there?" he added sheepishly.

"As a matter of fact, I do have something," Billy said. With a flick of a switch on the shuttle console, a pair of familiar old-style power morphers materialized on the replication platform. "Replica power morphers, designed to emulate our original morphers as well as a few additional functions. I managed these while working on _Prodigy_." He picked up the first one in the corner and passed it to Jason, while slipping the second one in his pocket. "It's not pure old-school, but it does a pretty good job of getting there."

"This is great, man. Thanks." Jason said and looked to Rocky, who gave a thumbs up as he was inspecting his Blue Zeoniser to see if it was in pristine condition. Adam and Justin did the same with their Zeo and Turbo morphers respectively. Andros checked on his own morpher before facing the group.

"So it's settled, then," Andros jumped in, "I board the Dark Fortress with Karone on it and try to talk her out of this mess while you board the other one, plant the explosive charges, and get out. I just hope you guys can handle things out here."

"We've handled ourselves fine no thanks to you," Rocky called out from the cockpit in mock anger. "And if we somehow get killed, it'll be on empty stomachs."

Adam shook his head in disbelief, a smile slowly forming on his face. "Leave it to Rocko to think of food at a time like this. I'm sure whoever owns the Youth Center this year will fix you up that Devastator value meal for you, Rocky."

Everyone laughed for a while, briefly elevating the heavy burden of what was about to come. Andros felt a little more relieved in what he had to accomplish, now that he had the blessing of a few older - more experienced - Rangers, even if they did come from Earth. After a while, the laughter stopped and seriousness filled the air.

Jason nodded and slowly marched towards Andros, extending his hand to him. "Good luck, Red Ranger."

Andros nodded and accepted Jason's hand. "To all of us."

---

On Earth's moon, a lifeless android lays on the surface. The bio-noid, a android composed of organic, mechanical, and technological components, had been damaged and left for dead for quite some time. The bio-noid, during its lifetime, was supposed to have been a renegade prince or something to that extent, but no one knew for sure, because it is dormant for the most part. Inactive... worthless... scrap.

But something interesting happened during its period of inactivity. The damage, which had been fatal, suddenly repaired itself, slowly but surely. The missing organic components were regenerating to the point where you never knew damage was inflicted. Then its eyes flashed open, its organic heart pumps, the sound of hard, coarse breathing echoes from its voice processor... slowly, the android moves its limps and helps itself up.

It is alive... and it is angry...

**End FOUR**


	13. Three

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Three**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

Although only twenty four hours had passed since the ultimatum had been dropped on the city of Angel Grove, to the frightened civilians and captives, those hours seemed like days. None of them had been able to divulge any information concerning the Rangers, unknowing of their presence behind a damaged minivan. After a short time, the Dark Fortress shot a green beam to the nearest building and from it emerged the new queen Astronema and her bodyguard Ecliptor. Their sudden appearance had caused a shudder among the fearful crowds, whom felt compelled - for whatever reason - to look upwards.

Astronema surveyed the crowd, but couldn't find the Rangers anywhere. "So where are they?" she called out, "Where are the Power Rangers? Someone better give me an answer or I'll destroy this planet!"

No one stepped forward, infuriating Astronema.

"You cowards! You would sacrifice your own planet just to stay hidden from me? Is that how you would like to be remembered as?" Her tone slightly lowered as she addressed the crowd. "One more time, where are the Power Rangers?"

Again, no one answered. Astronema's patience had grown thin.

"It seems that they're willing to keep them hidden from you," commented Ecliptor, "They'd rather die than give you what you want."

Astronema hissed, stamping her foot at the edge of the building. "Fine then."

"What are we going to do?" Ashley cried. None of the Rangers had an answer.

"You had your chance to give me what I want," Astronema told the crowd, "And you couldn't give me that one simple thing. None of you deserve to live. It's time. Let the destruction of..."

"Wait!" A voice called out, stopping Astronema from giving the rest of the order. Her eyes scanned the crowd, trying to trace the source of the voice. From the crowd of frightened people emerged a man, slightly overweight with a head of hair and a ponytail. When she saw this, Astronema shook her head. As did Ecliptor, who didn't know what was going.

"I am... the Blue Ranger," Farcus "Bulk" Bulkmeier declared... almost proudly. "You'll never succeed as long as I'm around."

"And I am the Black Ranger." A slender man, Eugene "Skull" Skullovich, emerged from the crowd and stood besides his longtime friend since childhood.

It wasn't long before a third man, the older Professor whom Bulk and Skull had associated themselves with over the past year, emerged and stood between the two friends. "I-I-I am the-the Red Ranger."

Bulk and Skull snickered to each other briefly and both silently mouthed, "Yeah, right."

"Incredible" was all TJ Johnson could mouth having witnessed the scene, which wasn't close to being over as several more citizens stepped forward and identified themselves as being Rangers.

"I can't believe this," Ashley mused with wide eyes.

"They're standing up for us," Carlos added.

Before long, there would more than twenty "Rangers" standing before Astronema, who looked neither impressed nor pleased with what she had seen.

"Fine, then. If you all want to be Rangers," she growled, "then you'll die with them! KILL THEM ALL!"

At that moment, everything went to hell. Quantrons and Paranatrons, moments ago idle, were now harassing the "Rangers" and other citizens. Energy bolts from Astronema and Ecliptor struck a few people down, but didn't seriously harm them. The swarm of grunts soon became overwhelming and it seemed as though all their efforts to buy time for the Rangers had been all for naught.

"Hold it!" a voice called out. "We are the Power Rangers!"

The crowd looked on to see four familiar students from the high school show up. Almost confirming what they had heard and said, the four teens were soon joined by a fifth, whom Bulk recognized as the new kid Zhane. The crowd of civilians looked on at the five teens who had made the bold declaration of their true identities and in the seconds that confirmed their claim, the five extended their arms outwards, activated their wrist devices, and in a flash of light, the five teens were replaced with the forms of the Power Rangers, which had cause some level of applause from the civilians.

"THEM?" was all Bulk and Skull could muster, although the thought had pretty much crossed everyone's minds. Before long, the five Power Rangers - Black, Pink, Silver, Yellow, and Blue - jumped into the sea of monsters and began hitting anything that moved... and not human. Even though they were still outnumbered and even though the chance for victory was slim, it seemed as though momentum had shifted from the Alliance to the Rangers, all of whom were fighting like madmen. From the top of the skyscraper, Astronema looked on as the Rangers fought valiantly... but she knows that their efforts would be futile. They will fail.

For a shred of a second, she almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

"It's best we leave, my Queen," Ecliptor said, tugging gently on Astronema's arm. "We cannot risk endangering your well being."

Astronema nodded, though she said nothing. Soon, they were teleported back to the Dark Fortress, which soon emerged back into the clouds as quickly as it appeared.

On the surface, the battle waged on. The Space Rangers managed to get the upper hand with the brief moment of 'surprise' that had distracted the army, but despite their best efforts, they were still clearly out-numbered and were getting piled on quickly by the soldiers. All five Rangers summoned their weapons to even the odds, but the advantage was soon lost and the Rangers were on the receiving end of a vicious beating. Close by, the Angel Grove civilians watched as their heroes and defenders were getting pummeled and almost shuddered at the thought of what would happened. The overwhelming fears were soon overcome by a declaration from the unlikeliest of individuals.

"Come on! Who's with me!" The loud bellow of Bulk called out the crowd, who responded with a unanimous roar of approval. Nodding at Skull by his side, the two life-long friends led the crowd towards the army. The rebellion had now gone full swing as the citizens of the fallen city fought back - either with shoves to the ground, smashing soldier's heads with stones, or in some cases, using some refined fighting skills. Although fate had given them the chance to win, the odds were still against them and victory was still slipping away every minute passed.

The battle would be lost... but not today.

---

For the past few hours, the Astro Megaship floated aimlessly in space underpowered. Forgotten by the Alliance fleet, Alpha 6, the latest in the Alpha robot line and currently the only occupant of the Megaship, used the time to make repairs and quick modifications to the ship. By the time he were done with repairs, he programmed DECA to run a self-diagnosis, which later came out to positive. Alpha 6 gleemed that his repair work had been so good that the Megaship didn't seem to have been in a battle with the Alliance fleet.

Under minimal power, Alpha used scanners to keep track of the fleet in order see what was going on. To his utter shock and surprise (and yes, that sort of thing is possible), his scans showed the Megashuttle in action, battling Velocifighters and attack cruisers with weapon systems he didn't even know existed. Punching up the picture on the main viewer, he saw the shuttle fly through various fighters, taking down as many as possible until a missile hit stopped its momentum. The next few seconds told the story.

Rather than evade the firepower, the shuttle flew directly towards the Dark Fortress that was still in orbit. Alpha watched in horror as the shuttle took a beating from the laser attacks of the many ships in the vicinity. Finally, after taking so much abuse, Alpha saw the shuttle explode in a blaze of glory, but not before he saw five light trails escape the shuttle and make their way to the Dark Fortress. One was red, three were blue, and the last one was green. Alpha knew that it had to be some former Rangers who had taken matters into their own hands by attempting a mission he knew nothing about.

As if that was enough to elicit some surprising response from the automaton, Alpha was taken aback when he saw large explosions from the attack group closest to Earth's atmosphere. With the flick of a button, the image shifted to an Alliance space cruiser coming under heavy fire from five fighter craft that Alpha was unfamiliar with, but somehow, he knew they were Terran in origin. The robot watched in amazement as the five fighters made short work of the cruiser and moved on to another, which was also quickly eliminated. After taking down six of the cruisers, the Velocifighter squadrons took notice and quickly they swarmed the five fighters, but the Terrans were able to handle themselves easily. That didn't change the fact that they were still outnumbered.

Alpha didn't know what to make of what he had just witnessed, nor was he able to figure out how Earth had managed to develop such advanced ships. All he knew was that he had to give them a chance.

"DECA," the robot squealed, "Power up the mains! We're going in!"

---

Control for the war-torn Machine Empire is in dispute. Despite assistance from Alliance warships, King Mondo's forces have been unable to gain any tactical edge over those of Emperor Aradon. A massive firefight among quadrafighters, skybases, and assault cruisers erupt within Gorah Khan's orbit, while ground forces battle within the city streets and various industrial areas that occupy the planet surface. Mondo, himself, walks alone in the main palace, searching for the half-breed bastard emperor, Aradon. And when he found him, he would kill his lifelong enemy and reclaim his Empire.

And despite the huge numbers, neither side would notice a lone stock freighter speeding past the line of fire and straight into the atmosphere of the Machine homeworld itself. The pilot, a recently reactivated bio-noid who had found the ship on Earth's moon, allocates power from weapons to shields to ensure no stray shot throws him off course. Once the capital city was in view, he set a course for the central palace. His intentions: unknown...

After what he felt was an hour of searching, Mondo had reach the doors to which the throne room would lead to. He motioned to the two Cog soldiers to go back and help with the fighting and the Cogs obediently left their king alone. After a brief moment of hesitation, Mondo took his wand and used it to fire a bolt at the doors, blowing them open. Walking through the smoke, Mondo found himself in the throne room that he has sparsely used, but knew it would have recent use. Then he saw him: the half-organic, half-machine emperor who had robbed him of his crown.

Aradon.

Both stared at each other for a moment without saying a word. Mondo couldn't tell if Aradon was either surprised to see him or if he had expected him to arrive. Likewise, Aradon had no way of telling whether Mondo was confident or arrogant, although it's possible to assume he was both. But none of that mattered. This was something both of them had wanted since the civil war began over two years ago. All the political backstabbing, alliances, ebellions, black op missions, and dirty tactics boiled down to this fight: an ancient tradition dating back to the origins of the Machine Empire. Winner takes the throne, the legend says, and the loser is turned into spare parts to do with what the victor wishes. Both knew that time-honored tradition well... and they would honor it.

"You came back," Aradon mused, "And I see you've grown a backbone."

Mondo couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not the one hiding behind closed doors while a battle is being fought."

Much to Mondo's surprise - or lack thereof - Aradon nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is a noticeable change in your attitude. But you didn't come here to talk. You came to fight for what isn't yours."

"I came to take back what is rightfully mine," the former king said, "And to send you back to the scrapheap from which you came."

"So let's fight."

"Yes. Let's fight then."

And so they did...

---

"It's done."

Kim looked at Ninjor with a hint of disbelief as he said those words. Both had been standing in the middle of an endless white area, doing little more than say a few quick words to break the tedious silence. So Ninjor could understand Kim's reaction.

"That's it?" she shrieked, "All this waiting around for five hours and it's done?"

Ninjor nudged his head a bit. "Time has no meaning here, Kimberly. But yes, it's done. Consider yourself"

Kim looked over herself and found no change. She turned back to Ninjor. "So where's the threat?"

"The waiting period is actually a cleverly-disguised scan of your own life force. It's designed to scan for any incompatibilities or imperfections that could corrupt the power. If such defects were to have been found in you, the power would have destroyed your body and scattered your energies. Naturally, mine would fade as well."

"I don't get it," Kim said, "Why not use a Sword of Power or something like that to do the transfer?"

"It's not that simple," said Ninjor, "But don't concern yourself with such things. We're linked now. My life force, my knowledge, my secrets... they're all yours now." His voice grew grim. "But we will not be seeing each other again soon, for my soul can no longer maintain itself in this plain of existence. When this is over, I will be gone."

"But you can't just... I mean, how will I know what to do?"

"You'll know," he said, "The power will teach you. The power of a Ranger Sentinel... a title that hasn't been instilled upon since the age of the Nathadians." Ninjor turned to Kim, who seemed uneasy. "You, Kimberly, have gained more than my life force. You now have access to power far superior to those of a normal Ranger."

"What kind of power?" Kim asked, but she started to feel strange. One quick glance at Ninjor and she knows he feels it too. "What's happening?"

"The enchantment's wearing off. You're being displayed back to normal reality." Ninjor's head lowered a bit. "I'm afraid I can't hold on any longer."

"What do you mean?" Kim's eyes were watery. She already knew what he meant.

"As it is, my body ceases to function. When the enchantment fades, I will be gone to a higher plain of existence." The ninja master wiped his mask, as if to wipe away an imaginary tear. "I just can't hold on anymore."

"Then let go," she said, trying to fight back the tears. She soon walked over to Ninjor and embraced him in a hug. "I promise I'll do you proud."

"You already have, my girl," Ninjor cried, "You'll make a fine Sentinel."

Then everything went white and soon Kimberly found herself in the small chamber where they had begun the chamber. She quickly scanned the room until she found Ninjor, laying lifeless on the floor. His armored suit, once a clean blue, was now a dull gray and portions of the suit was now starting to corrode. Knowing the futility of her next action, Kim nonetheless reached her hand to the ninja master's neck to check for a pulse. There was none.

Ninjor, the great sage who had created the power coins, was dead.

For a short while, Kim mourned the loss of her mentor and friend. She made a silent prayer in his name, hoping that he will find peace in the afterlife. After a while, the corpse of Ninjor slowly faded into nothingness, leaving only the ninja sword that has been his weapon. Kim walked behind the altar where Ninjor had been and picked up the sword, studying it intently. As she did so, the blade let out a faint glow of white that faded just as quickly, leaving behind a pink curved blade in its wake. Kim held onto the weapon with her hand, a small smile forming on her face. The smile faded as Kim turned and made her way outside to face the enemy army, who had made their way through the front gate and are now entering the temple in great numbers.

Stepping out of the walls of the inner chamber, Kimberly saw an endless stream of golems, Quantrons, and the whole lot of grunt soldiers whom had to be relocated from other sectors to take on this enemy... to conquer the one last megapower of the universe before victory could be assured. Kimberly merely looked ahead, her eyes shifting between a pale pink and ghostly white, all the while her entire body slowly levitated off the ground. Cackles of energy would swirl around her as the grunts looked on. Before long, Kimberly found herself floating above the sea of monsters, far beyond their reach. A Golem lunged forward to attack the new Sentinel, only to be knocked down by a Pink Ranger's flying kick, who had suddenly appeared out of thin air. She resembled Kimberly's former masked identity, only the normally white portions of her costume were a light pink.

Two other Pirahnatrons were about to pursue this Ranger, but were taken down by two other Pink Rangers, both of whom wore the same costume as the first. The same happened to an Iron Golem close by; with a Pink Ranger showing up every millisecond. Within seconds, the almost-unlimited army of Iron Golems, Pirahnatrons, Quantrons, and superior grunt soldiers were facing off against an equally unlimited army of spectral Pink Rangers, all the while Kimberly aimlessly floated over the fighters, safe within a projected pink orb that surrounded her. Whenever a stray shot from a Golem's blaster was blocked before it could touch her, the orb that protected her would fire pink charged shots that would cause huge explosions and eliminate a good number of enemy troops. The numbers continued to shrink, as the Pink Rangers slowly made short work of the grunt soldiers. Every once in a while, several wide columns of pink light would erupt from the ground, disintegrating anything it touched.

Kimberly's face bore no emotion as the armies clashed against each other. She just looked down below them indifferently, like they were nothing more than toy soldiers, completely off-guard by what is happening. They had expected a quick victory, as the only defense was a dying ninja master and a former Ranger. Instead, what they had was a former Ranger who had ascended into the next rank of power. Ninjor was right when he said a Sentinel hadn't been seen in ages. Otherwise, these troops would have been better prepared.

"Pathetic," she uttered in disgust.

The seemingly-endless slaughter went on like this for an hour before the illusions made quick work of the Alliance army and thousands of slain troops littered the desert sands to no end. Kim slowly descended from the air and landed softly atop a fallen Quantron while her illusions faded into empty space. She surveyed the area around her, seeing nothing but dead monsters. In the distance, she could see the formation of a sandstorm, but what caught her attention was the only monster still standing; a black-armored knight who was presumable the leader of the group. From his stature, Kim could tell he was unphased by what had happened.

_No matter_, Kim thought, _I'll finish him fast._

"You've managed to hold up rather well," the knight said, "but I assure you that you'll be destroyed in due time."

She took one look at the knight as he fired several powerful bolts at her: each of which were deflected by the energy sphere surrounding her. She could tell that the knight was starting to get frustrated at his inability to penetrate her protective shield. She could almost feel the intense anger that her enemy was building up as he gathered his energies. The last thing she saw was a flash of red lightning blazing at her before she was engulfed in light.

The knight dropped to his knees. She emerged from the smoke, unscathed from the awesome power he had unleashed. Suddenly, the knight without fear was suddenly afraid of this seemingly human female who had managed to survive every lethal blow he was able to throw at her. He became downright terrified when the former Ranger shot him a cold, demonic grin.

"You'll be dead before that happens."

Kim took two wild swings with the blade at the knight - one swing had sliced off his hands and the second swing cut through his armor, sparks and flames bursting from both wounds. One final swipe later, the knight's helmet separated from the rest of the body, which promptly collapsed to the ground. Then she saw a closer look at the "sandstorm" caused by the rapid running of more Quantrons, Iron Golems, and other creatures she couldn't quite make out. With a thought, a second blade formed in her free hand and she held both them in a way that the blades formed a cross. From the two blades shot out several streams of red lightning, flying towards the army of monsters and striking some of them down. Kim knew that the army was endless, but she couldn't help but smile.

---

The Turbo Ranger robots, or Robot Rangers, outnumbered the invaders numerously and their controllers, whom also controlled the planet Eltare, were making use of their extensive resources as they quickly reproduced more to fight. Despite their best efforts, the Robot Rangers were unable to hold back against the impending force of Ranger Wraiths led by Lord Zedd and Thomas Oliver - two former rivals. Soon, the large metal doors serving as the entrance to the Eltarian palace was taken down and the fighting spilled inwards, where the reserve Alliance troops had been waiting. Zedd and Thomas emerged from the fighting crowd, standing before two giant doors.

"There it is," Zedd said, pointing to the doors, "The main chamber's there. And the master of this militia's waiting."

"I'll go," Thomas grunted, "You better take care of the Robots."

Zedd nodded and went back to fighting Robot Rangers. With that, Thomas walked towards the main control room while Ranger Wraiths, Tengu Knights, reprogrammed Robot Rangers, Quantrons, and Iron Golems fought relentlessly around him. If a random soldier got in the way, Thomas pushed him out of the way. He would not let anything keep him from the control room and face the commander of Eltare's occupation. He took a quick glance back at the ongoing fighting and noticed Zedd was missing. The thought was quickly dismissed and Thomas continued on his way as the fighting continued.

After what seemed like an eternity, Thomas stood before the main doors as the fighting continued behind him. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, the two doors opened inward. Without second thoughts, Thomas stepped through the doors to enter what seemed like a large room that seemed completely empty with the exception of one throne chair and the beast that sat in it. Thomas studied the creature for a moment; a four-armed lizard creature with a lengthen neck, holding a jagged sword in each hand. Likewise, the creature studied his human enemy and the various bruises evident on his face, not to mention the bloodstains found on his armor.

The creature made the first strike against Thomas, who managed to sidestep the blow. The creature swung all of its arms wildly in an attempt to make contact with the Ranger, who managed to either evade or block the attacks. Although the attacks weren't skilled, they did come at Thomas quickly and as a result, he wasn't able to find an opening. After what seemed like a couple minutes of constant misses and blocks, the creature extended one of his arms outwards, which missed Thomas completely. With one instinctive slice from his saber, the Ranger had managed to sever the arm from the creature and followed up with a kick to the abdomen which forced the creature back a few steps. Thomas then quickly leapt and landed a flying kick across the head of the creature and managed to slice off another one of the creature's arm with his sword.

With two arms remaining, the creature decided to change his focus. With a well-timed kick, the creature landed a blow to Thomas's knee, which caused the Ranger to drop his sword. He soon found himself pummeled by the creature's fists, which pounded him quickly. After twenty punches, the creature connected with an uppercut that knocked Thomas on the ground. Catching a quick breath, Thomas pulled all his strength into one flip that brought him back on his feet, startling his opponent. He quickly followed this with a spinning heel kick that caused the creature's head to snap back. With the momentary distraction, Thomas quickly picked up his sword and preceded to swing it across the creature's chest, causing a flurry of sparks to erupt. The creature, just a few moments ago the aggressor, was delirious and tried to clear his head, but it was too late, as Thomas used the time to thrust his sword through the creature's chest. After the blade was pulled out, all signs of life fled from the creature as he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Thomas looked down on his fallen opponent, feeling empty. The fight, in his mind, was too easy and for a supposed evil master left in charge of the Alliance's greatest prize - outside of Zordon himself - and a skilled fighter, the creature was no more tougher than the monsters he had fought alongside the other Rangers. Sensing the presence of another, Thomas turned his attention to the door and saw Zedd standing there, pointing his staff towards the Ranger. Before Thomas could react, a surge of lightning flew at him and struck him in the chest. The lightning momentarily enveloped Thomas before he was sent flying and smashed against the far wall. The Ranger dropped to the floor, all strength having escaped him. His eyes looked up momentarily as Zedd approached him, staff still pointing at the Ranger's forehead. Thomas cursed himself as he could picture the wicked grin behind Zedd's metal mask.

"So tell me, Oliver," the fleshman asked, "Ever get the feeling you've been duped?"

**End THREE**


	14. Two

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Two**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

As soon as he crashed against the wall as a result of the full brunt of an energy burst, Thomas Oliver momentarily blacked out into unconsciousness... but it didn't last too long. He weakly opened his eyes, and saw Lord Zedd pointing the tip of his staff at his chest. He tried to push himself back to his feet, but the pain was so overwhelming that he couldn't do it. The worst of it wasn't the intense pain, but the fact that he had somehow himself too trusting of his most hated enemy that he believed that he was here to reclaim the planet from the Alliance. He didn't know why this came to be... could it have been due to that act of mercy? Was it because Zedd had spared him two years ago that Thomas actually thought there would be a slip of decency in the fleshman's being? How the hell did that happen? He couldn't find the answer to that right now... he's busy trying to block the pain from his mind.

"I'd have to thank you for taking out the master," the fleshman sneered, almost sounding as if he's enjoying this. "Saves me the trouble of doing it myself. And as payment, I'm going to do you a favor and send you to the afterlife so you can join with your dead girlfriend."

Thomas grunted in response, slowly finding the strength to get himself up to a standing base. The pain was plentiful, but he had managed to get to his feet. He slowly limped his way towards Zedd as Zedd taunted him.

"Or at least, that's what your clone told him before you retired Rangers raided my palace," Zedd continued, "I keep asking him where the corpse is or the ashes, but he keeps moaning about how his explosive was design to vaporize. Regardless of how you vaporize something, it doesn't completely disappear. And yet... she's nowhere to be found."

Thomas' eyes widened. "You don't know where she is... is that what you're telling me?"

Zedd threw his arms up in the air. "Yes! As much as it pains me to admit it, I don't know where Rita's kitty bitch is."

_There it is,_ the Ranger thought, _Zedd doesn't know._

"In that case," Thomas said confidently, slowly regaining his strength. "I have no further use of you."

With that, Thomas leapt at Zedd fiercely, who sidestepped the Ranger, allowing him room to land on his feet. He immediately followed the missed jump with a sidekick that struck Zedd's lower back, who swung his staff in retaliation. The staff missed its mark, as Thomas had managed to duck the attack in time, but was soon caught off-guard by a quick jab across the face. Taking advantage of his enemy's stunned state, Zedd continued with a powerful roundhouse kick, which Thomas expertly blocked and countered with a missed uppercut. Zedd then swung his staff at Thomas again, but this time the Ranger saw it coming and with a palm strike, shattered the metal weapon into several pieces. The fleshman recoiled back in shock of what happened and only watched as the Ranger threw him a grin.

"Ready for Round Three, you bastard?" he growled.

In response, Zedd jumped at Thomas and delivered a flurry of kicks, which were countered or blocked. From there, the two longtime adversaries threw every move, countermove, and any other trick they knew, but none of them were able to land a single blow. But Zedd was too weak to keep this up for long and following a mistake that left his ribs open, Thomas capitalized on it with a swift jab that stunned the fleshman. Relentlessly, Thomas continued with his flurry of punches and kicks, not giving Zedd a chance to counterattack or even block. When it seemed like Zedd was about to fall, Thomas delivered an uppercut that served to keep the limping fleshman on his feet and he continued his relentless assault. At this point, Zedd was a living punching bag, unable to defend himself as his vision began to fade quickly. Thomas stopped his assault and positioned his two hands facing each other, but without actually touching. Instantaneously, green energy began to build up between his palms, eventually forming a ball of energy. When he saw Zedd dashing at him, Thomas shot the ball outward and the projectile struck Zedd's chest, forcing the dark lord down on one knee. With his enemy down, Thomas pulled out the stone-bladed Saba saber, studying his enemy before delivering the killing blow.

When Thomas swung the white saber at Zedd, the blade connected with another object that had suddenly formed in mid-air. Zedd had used up some energy remaining to form a short sword to defend himself with. The two struggled with their blades and then pushed each other back, giving some distance. Zedd, renewed with a fighting chance, leapt at the Ranger with intense ferocity that caught him off-guard and the fleshman tackled his enemy to the ground easily. Zedd had a hard time getting up while the human leapt to his feet almost instantaneously. By the time Zedd was up, his chest began to burst in flames as beams from Saba's eyes fired... real energy beams, not the stream of energy particles that had been used years earlier.

The beams accomplished their goal and left Zedd momentarily stunned, his legs barely stable. With one quick motion, Thomas' sword slashed and dug into Zedd's burnt flesh, ripping several burnt pieces of it from the fleshman lord. The wounds stung and caused Zedd all but the briefest of pains. One quick slice across the neck later, a thin line of light could be seen and suddenly all life escaped the shell it had been confined to. The lifeless body of the fleshman dropped to its knees before eventually collapsing to the floor entirely, with Zedd's head detaching itself and bouncing off the floor until it hit a wall... all while the victorious Ranger stood and watched. The two skinless parts of the dark lord gradually changed from a healthy red to various shades of grey, eventually breaking down into mounds of dust. Only the metallic coverings and the mask of the late Lord Zedd remained.

Thomas stared into the crimson mask of Zedd and with a mix of hesitation, obligation, and other feelings he couldn't precisely describe, picked up the metal piece, and held it for a moment before it too dissolved into dust along with the other metallic coverings. Even so, he looked as though he still held the mask in his hands, staring at his palms before the realization hit. Lord Zedd was dead and his evil power has been extinguished. Thomas would normally be glad that his greatest adversary was slain and that the defeat he had suffered two years ago was finally avenged...

...but the victory would be a hollow one. Zedd's death won't bring back Katherine from wherever she is nor has it gotten him any closer to finding out her fate. Thomas' mind wandered a bit, but reality hit as he felt the full brunt of a Robot Ranger's dropkick to the side of his face. He recovered quickly, but now he found himself quickly surrounded not only by the reprogrammed robots, but also the Ranger Wraiths who have come to avenge their fallen master, a result of internal programming done by Zedd as a last contingency. Thomas would fight them off for a moment before he was eventually overwhelmed by the ever-growing numbers of a unified force.

Suddenly, that hollow victory over Zedd meant nothing. Thomas had killed his most hated rival, only to be taken down himself by a force that even in the right state of mind, he couldn't defeat.

---

On the surface of Earth's moon, Serpenterra sleeps within her specially-constructed hangar. The hangar bay served two functions: recharging the destructive zord and protecting her from those who wish to claim her power. While the hangar had recharged Serpenterra to full capacity, the latter function had hardly seen much use, since there was no longer any forces occupying the moon. A special network was constructed and set to activate in the event Zedd's vibrations waned somehow. This never happened and thus there was no need to execute the final command... until Zedd's evil vibrations were no longer detected, the hangar engaged the final command protocol: a self-destruct mechanism that sent a single to the three-thousand explosive and implosive devices built into the mainframe and foundation of the elevated hangar bay. All in unison, the devices set off and everything was either engulfed in flames or collapsed into the forming abyss. With no support to hold her sleeping body, Serpenterra fumbled to the growing grave with such force that some of the outer armor was pierced and scratched. By the time the zord had settled deeper into the growing crevice on the surface of the moon, it had sustained considerable damage, its mass and size reduced greatly. Not long after, the rockslide from the implosions quickly buried the sleeping beast.

Although the self-repair protocol will eventually kick in and repair the outer shell, Serpenterra has been well secluded to the point where only a machine could find her and restore her to glory. Today, the greatest threat to civilization has been buried, awaiting the day and she will be summoned once again to fulfill her destructive potential.

-o-

The battle between two Machine leaders had spilled onto hallways, ceremonial rooms, and dungeons deep below the palace of the Machine rulership. Although Aradon was the quicker of the two, he wasn't as experienced in close combat as Mondo has been. Mondo didn't bother with risky moves and relied mostly on his weight. The fighting was constant throughout the period of time, with neither gaining much of an advantage over the other. Both were equally frustrated by the lack of advantage, but at the same time, this was no mere fight for control of a nation. This was for control of the whole Empire and such power has to be earned. Aradon knew this and so did Mondo... although organics would call him evil, even they had to admit that there were certain values he held up , the two had fought their way to one of the energy core rooms, a long shaft surrounded with various connector pipes and wires. The bottom of the shaft, a pool of molten lava, is said to lead straight into the core of Gorah Khan itself. Mondo could feel the heat seeping into his internal systems, slowly depriving him of his

"You're tired, Mondo," Aradon said, noting Mondo's weakened state, although he wasn't feeling too well either. "Perhaps you should return to your slumber."

Mondo didn't reply. He simply pushed back the slender emperor with his staff, which was barely holding up amidst the intense heat generated from the energy core of the planet. Aradon took too long to attack, which gave Mondo the edge he needed. With whatever energy he could muster, he shot a bolt from his fingertips that struck the bionoid Aradon across the chest, stunning him momentarily. Suddenly, neither one was at an advantage and it was becoming evident that both were losing energy quickly.

"It's over, 'Emperor' Aradon," Mondo said bitterly, "Your short reign is over."

Before Mondo could deliver the final blow, something caught his eye. Another humanoid android emerged from the opposite, wearing a heavy stained cloak beneath its old-style royal armor that Mondo immediately recognized as one his first-built son used to have. Aradon took a quick glance at the cloaked machine and, with a quick study of the eyes and exposed brain, recognized some of the organic components he had personally used on bio-noids similar to his daughter's husband no more than two years. When the shock passed them, they both realized that this bio-noid's sudden appearance wasn't a visual illusion in their systems.

He was genuine.

"Gasket?"

The bio-noid barely nodded in acknowledgment as he pulled out a curved scimitar from his cloak. He said no words, but did study both sides of his family... both of them obviously shocked by his sudden re-emergence.

"Gasket, my boy! You're alive after all!" he cheered, "And you didn't bring that wench with you either."

Aradon ignored the shot as his daughter and stared intently at the machine she chose to marry. Gasket slowly made his way towards Aradon and with a slow motion, raised his weapon to the point where the blade could be wrapped around the emperor's neck. This pleased Mondo, who wouldn't have to destroy his rival.

"That's it, son," he pleaded, "Kill him."

Gasket glanced at Mondo, holding the scimitar to Aradon's neck. Aradon didn't say a word, didn't make a move... he just stood there with his eyes affixed to those of Mondo's son.

"Kill him and we will rule the Empire as father and son."

Gasket stared intently at Aradon, throwing the occasional glare at Mondo, who seemed almost agitated by the delay. Aradon studied the features of his son-in-law, looking for any hidden motive to his actions. He couldn't find any... it was hard to tell whether Gasket would kill him or not. Mondo kept insisting that Gasket killed him, but he didn't move a muscle, saving for the twitching of his organic eyes. If Aradon knew any better, he'd say Gasket was beginning to get annoyed by the obese king's ranting. Mondo's patience quickly wore thin.

"What are you waiting for? Kill him!" Mondo screamed in frustration. "Kill him or I'll kill the both of you! And then I'll find that mechanical bitch of yours and kill her too!"

Almost immediately, Mondo had come to regret those words as he saw Gasket's head shift violently toward his direction. Quickly, the former prince pushed Aradon aside, dashed at Mondo, and with one quick motion and an almost bestial roar, gutted the scimitar into the heart of his own father. Mondo silently looked on in shock as Gasket returned an icy glare. Aradon turned to see what had happened and was also in shock.

"See you in Hades, my king." Gasket's words bled with rage as he violently pulled out the blade from the damaged hulk of Mondo and kicked him off the ledge, watching it fall further into the pit until it was nothing more than a speck of light. He turned to Aradon, whose shock had worn off and was now perplexed as to what has happened.

"Why?" Aradon had managed to ask, but Gasket didn't reply directly to the question. Instead, he walked past Aradon and proceeded to the door. Just before he stepped out, he turned back to Aradon.

"The Empire is yours now, my lord," he said simply, "As your debt to me, you shall leave me and my bride in peace."

Gasket turned his back and walked out of the chamber before Aradon would have a chance to respond. He looked down at the pit of molten magma and, using a built-in zoom feature, watched as Mondo buckled against the heat and liquid fire that slowly broke down his body into melted metal. Behind him, several Cog generals - his Cog generals - rushed in to tend to their leader.

"Are you injured, my lord?" one of them asked.

Aradon shook his head, his attention still staring into the constantly burning hulk of what was once his greatest rival and the most ruthless king that the Empire had ever been subject to. He watched as the flames slowly died down and the ashes began to disperse from the rest of the wreckage.

With that piece of business done, he then turned his attention to the head general. "General, I want you to purge the Mondo protocols from the memory banks. I want to make sure he has no means of returning." To the other generals, he said, "You will assist in deploying the mobile vehicles to round up the remaining enemy forces. Last time I checked, there's a war going on."

"It'll be done, my lord." The Cogs bowed his head and marched out of the heat chamber, with Aradon following close behind.

---

Gasket continued walking down the empty halls of the palace until he reached the hangar bay, where the ship he commandeered from Earth's moon had been sitting. Stepping into the small craft, he immediately sat in the cockpit and operated ship systems. In a short instant, he was flying out of the hangar bay and will shortly fly away from the drudgery of Machine politics. Power means nothing to him anymore.

Almost as an afterthought, Gasket reached for the comm system and inputted a set of frequencies. It wasn't long before a female voice replied.

"Gasket, dear. Are you alright?"

Gasket sighed. "Yes, my bride. I did what I had to do. I'm coming home."

---

As soon as he materialized from teleportation, Andros found himself in the cargo bay area of Astronema's Dark Fortress, which was practically empty because all the fighters were sent to fight off the other attackers. Adding to his fortune was the fact that the Dark Fortress had a minimal complement of Quantrons, mostly assigned to meager system checks. None of them noticed his presence as he made his way to a nearby corridor. Whenever he saw the coast was clear, he would continued onward, hiding behind any walls to avoid any troops passing by.

After some time, he made his way to the power core room, which was a short walk away from the main control room of the Fortress. From his hiding spot, he didn't have a clear cut view of the control room, but he did see Ecliptor briefing several Quantrons on system operations. There doesn't seem to be anyone else short of that group, which gave Andros the chance he needed to provide a distraction.

"Here goes nothing."

With Astro Blaster in hand, Andros began shooting down core stabilizers left and right to the point where they couldn't be salvaged or repair. If things were to go wrong and he couldn't save Karone from the evil controlling her, he would bring down the Dark Fortress, which should send a powerful message to the attacking forces. After several stabilizers were destroyed, Andros fired several shots at the power distributors, incinerating them instantly. Their destruction also triggered an alarm, which caused a panic throughout the fortress.

Upon hearing the alarms, Ecliptor and several troops emptied the control room to check the damage done. With great speed, Andros ran past the door and typed in a code into the keypad, closing the door just as Ecliptor had noticed his presence. Once the door was securely closed, Andros pulled out his blaster and destroyed the keypad.

"Now to find my sister."

Slipping the blaster back into his holster, Andros took a quick scan of the room and was disappointed to find nobody here. He began to walk a few steps towards the office at the end, when he heard a deep voice calling his name. Andros turned to the sound of the familiar voice, which came from an energy tube resonating a bluish glow. He recognized the glow and the floating head within. He took a few steps closer and his shock magnified as his eyes fell upon his old mentor.

"Zordon?"

The sage nodded in confirmation. "_Yes, it's me._"

Andros made a run towards Zordon and studied the contraptions connected to his energy tube that he had been held prisoner in. Only two small generators were connected to the base of the tube, possibly the very energy draining systems that was robbing Zordon of his life force.

"_Listen to me, Andros. There's not much time,_" Zordon said, breaking the Red Ranger's trance. "_The forces of evil have captured most of the universe. Soon they will capture the Earth and other free worlds._"

Andros nodded in agreement, aware of the grim situation. "I know."

"_You can stop it from happening._"

The Red Ranger looked up excitedly. "How?"

"_Shatter my energy tube._"

_Wait a minute_, Andros thought, almost dropping his saber. "What?"

"_Only the good energy from my tube will destroy the Alliance for good._"

"But what about you?" Andros stammered.

"_I will be gone,_" he said regretfully, "_But my spirit will live on in all that is good._"

Andros shook his head, not wanting to accept what Zordon was saying. "We'll keep fighting! There has to another way!"

"_There is no other way,_" Zordon insisted, though he too wished otherwise.

And with that, the trembling stopped. Andros' hand extended forward and red energy soon formed his signature Spiral Saber, which he soon grabbed by the hilt of his saber, his breath slowing as he gathered his wits. Slowly, he extended the saber above his head as Zordon watched, preparing himself for his eventual demise. Just as Andros was about to swing the saber, he hesitated. Again, he pulled the saber back and swung it, only to stop himself from making contact with the glass tube encasing Zordon. His mask hid the tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I... can't!" he sobbed, dropping the saber. "I can't get myself to end your existence."

He took a step back and turned away from Zordon, unable to face his mentor. On the corner of his eye, he could see someone behind the grated wall of the office about to step out and reveal herself.

"I have a suggestion," Astronema blurted out as she emerged from the darkness, much to Andros' surprise. "Rather than you ending Zordon's existence, how about I end yours?"

---

Meanwhile, things were taking an unexpected turn in the second Dark Fortress. Within the main hangar bay of the base, a firefight is emerging between the remaining Quantrons and a small group of former Power Rangers armed with laser pistols and power cannons. Despite their best fighting skills and great numbers, the Quantrons were quickly and soundly destroyed. With that piece of business out of the way, the Rangers regrouped to a secluded corridor devoid of enemy troops. They continued down the path until they were met with more Quantrons. Some wore silver armor while others wore gold."Can we morph now?" Justin groaned.

"Not yet," Billy said, "We shouldn't be escalating a battle."

On that note, the gold-armored Quantrons shot beams from their eyes, which the group of retired Rangers managed to dodge by moving out of the way.

"Forget that, man," Adam quipped. "They already escalated the battle."

Rocky shot his friend a smile and turned to Jason. "I'd say it's about that 'time' again. Don't you, Jay?"

Jason nodded and pulled out his "old-school" morpher, which prompted Billy to pull out his own old-school morpher. Rocky and Adam summoned

"Okay, boys," he told them, "Time to kick ass. It's morphin time!"

In unison, the five activated their morphers and invoked their long-dormant powers, causing them to be enveloped in various lights of red, blue, and green. When the light cleared, five Rangers unfamiliar to the Quantrons replaced the five human intruders. The Red and Blue Rangers immediately summoned their respective Power Sword and Power Lance weapons and began pummeling silver-armored Quantrons into submission. The Blue and Green Zeo Rangers leapt at the gold-armored soldiers and fought them on, leaving the Blue Turbo Ranger to take down whatever was left with his dual hand blasters. In a short period of time, the second wave of Quantrons were defeated and the now-morphed veterans pushed forward.

"That was a little too easy," Rocky mused as they proceeded forward. Then, in an old man's voice, he added, "In our day, the putties used to be a lot tougher than this."

"Don't count them out yet, Rocky," Justin said, "They can easily outnumber you."

Jason ignored all the small talk. "So where's the core room, Billy?"

Billy stopped to look around the corridors. "If the diagrams Andros gave us are accurate, the main core should just down this hall."

Adam briefly looked around a bit and said, "Considering we haven't teleported inside a bulkhead, I'd say they're accurate."

And so they continued on their way until a few minutes later when they reached a large door with a keypad next to it. A quick glance at the sign - which said CORE ROOM in large type - confirmed this was where they were supposed to go.

"Finally, a door," grunted Rocky, "Seems like all we do is run around corridors these days."

Blue Ranger shook his head and studied the keypad momentarily before shrugging his shoulders and slamming his fist into the mechanism, which prompted the doors to open. He stepped inward, with the remaining four Rangers behind him. They soon found themselves in a relative large circular room with few consoles scattered about. What caught their attention was the spinning orb in the center of the room, surrounded by a plexiglass tube. Billy took a closer look at it, his helmet hiding the look of familiarity and awe.

"Mainframe core," Billy uttered absently.

Jason eyed Billy, confused. "You've seen this thing before?"

Billy nodded. "A very efficient computer core, capable of doing anything you want it to do. If this thing was installed on Serpenterra, chances are she wouldn't have had rapid power drains because the Mainframe would have been able to effectively manage its power allocation."

"So that's how they're producing more troops faster than we can take them down," Justin added in realization, "All because of this stupid spinning ball."

On cue, the Mainframe core began to spin faster than before and from it shot several beams of light that landed on certain points around the chamber. From the spots materialized groups of three Quantrons, each one holding their blade weapons. The Rangers immediately took defense stances, except for Billy, who set himself against the panel closest to the core and began to install his furbished bomb.

"There are days," Red Ranger grumbled, "when I prefer the old days."

**End TWO**


	15. One

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - One**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

"There are days when I prefer the old days."

Jason Scott - the original Red Ranger, back in action - grumbled out loud. A sentiment undoubtedly shared by his fellow Rangers and friends, all of whom were lucky to be morphed. The helmet helps to hide their anxiety from the enemy. They've been in tight squeezes before, but this time, the stakes were higher.

Standing before them was a group of Quantrons that have just materialized, armed with their double-handed blade weapons. Behind them was a spinning orb that Billy - the original Blue Ranger - had referred to as the Mainframe Core, the very device responsible for the rapid production of Quantrons and enemy troops. Taking this thing down would strike a serious blow to the Alliance. Even if the war is lost, one less Mainframe would seriously cripple them to the point where a rebellion could overpower them.

Billy studied the mechanism and studied it for a moment. Turning to Justin, he said, "Justin, I'll need you to watch my back."

Justin nodded and stood guard as Billy got to work while the remaining Rangers stood their ground against the group of Quantrons, whom outnumbered the Rangers. Jason gripped on his Power Sword tightly, waiting for the right moment to strike. With a nod, the Rangers charged in, as did the Quantrons, and the battle began.

Jason leapt up and landed directly in front of two Quantrons, causing them to attack with their weapons. Although they seemed skilled with the blades, Jason had managed to dodge most of their attacks and took them down easily with a couple of spinning kicks. He quickly turned to see another Quantron attempting a sneak attack and responded with a kick to the stomach with enough force to send the Quantron flying against the wall and disintegrated on impact.

By being one of the few former Rangers who had dealt with Quantrons on more than one occasion, Adam was able to anticipate most of their moves. Two had tried to surround him, but Adam kicked one in the ribs and threw the other aside, causing it to collide with another Quantron who had been fighting Jason.

Despite a weakened back, Rocky was able to hold his own against three Quantrons attacking him. With a quick kick to the knee, the Quantron buckled and was soon taken down a follow-up roundhouse kick. Another Quantron rushed in and tried to kick Rocky, but the Blue Zeo Ranger blocked the kick and then knocked the creature off its feet with a leg sweep. Rocky turned and saw a Quantron approaching the area where Billy and Justin were working.

"Guys, watch out!" Rocky called out.

Justin turned and saw the approaching Quantron. The Quantron swung the blade downwards at Justin, who managed to roll out of the way and land a kick to the soldier's ribs. Pulling out his Auto Blaster, he fired a concentrated shot at the Quantron's chest, which exploded on impact. The soldier fell on the knees and Justin got up, noticing that the Quantron's attack and sliced through a piece of machinery Billy had installed. That didn't escape Billy's notice.

"Damn!" Billy cursed. Instinctively, the Blue Ranger summoned his Lance again and charged at the nearest Quantron, impaling the soldier through the chest. Once all the Quantrons were taken down, Billy demorphed and checked the damage done.

Jason eyed his friend and ran towards him, as did the others. "What happened?"

Billy turned to face Jason, who seemed stunned by his anger. "The bomb's been disabled. We can't set a countdown."

Jason glanced at the damaged equipment and turned his attention to the Mainframe Core, which was beginning to spin a little faster than before.

"What if we use our blasters to destroy it?" he suggested, "It doesn't look like it's well protected. I think one good shot will take it out."

"Not without killing ourselves in the process," Billy said, "And as much as we want to make that sacrifice, we can't afford to do so. I might have another way of doing it, but we'll have to make it back to the Astro Megaship."

Jason shook his head in disappointment while Adam looked on. All this work, all this planning was for naught. Finally, after a minute of silence, Justin raised his wrist communicator, activated it, and spoke into it. "Alpha, teleport us out of here."

The robot's high-pitched voice squealed over the tinny speaker. "It'll take me a while to lock on to your communicators."

The Rangers demorphed and grouped together as they waited for teleport. Adam had considered joining them, but then turned his attention back to the Mainframe Core, which began to spin faster and glowed brighter than before. He turned back to the other Rangers before eyeing the spinning orb again. It was then that he made one of the hardest decisions he would ever have to make and it was then that he decided to make the greatest sacrifice. Part of him hesitated while another part convinced him that this was the only decision. The instant he felt his fingers snapping off his wrist communicator, he knew he had to go through with this.

"Adam, what are you doing?" Jason asked as he saw Adam gingerly snapping the communicator from his wrist and tossed it aside. From his pocket, he pulled out a small hand blaster - probably from the packet of weapons they've amassed on the shuttle - and activated the charge. Rocky's eyes widened when he saw Adam prepare the gun and he realized what his friend planned on doing.

"Adam, what the hell are you doing?" he yelled.

"Doing what I have to, Rocko," Adam replied gently. "This seems to be the sure way to kill this thing."

"By killing yourself?" Rocky barked.

"You don't have to do this," Billy said, "We can initiate my other plan from the Megaship! There's no need to do this!"

"It's either this or follow Billy's other plan!" Adam retorted, "And I'm pretty sure the chances for whatever plan you guys might have in mind are pretty slim."

Rocky took a step forward, but before he could do any further, blue light whiffed him away. The other Rangers were also whiffed away in blue and red light, leaving Adam alone in the chamber room. He eyed the spot where his friends had been, then he tilted his head towards the wrist communicator on the floor as it vanished in a blaze of green light. He turned back to the spinning orb, which had reached the maximum spinning speed possible.

With no other option left at his disposal, he aimed the small blaster at the orb and thought for a moment about his life, his tenure as a Ranger, and most of all, his friends and family. He thought about the pain he would inflict upon them, but he knew that they would endure. Was it a well-thought plan? Perhaps not. Was it a necessity? He'd like to think so. He always pictured ending his career in a blaze of glory. He just hoped that the sacrifice he was about to make wouldn't be in vain. Somehow, however, he didn't think so.

"Goodbye, my friends," he said silently as he pulled the trigger and watched as a single bolt of energy flew at the Mainframe Core. As soon as it made contact, Adam Park's world turned white and the young man managed a satisfied smile before...

---

Ecliptor rammed his shoulder into the sealed door of Astronema's quarters, but his efforts were for naught, as he was unable to make a dent into the door. He made another attempt by firing several energy beams from his eyes and sword, but again, they did not so much as a scratch on them. The warrior cursed silently, regretting the day he had ordered the blast doors to be magnetically enforced. Little did he know that on the other side of the room, Astronema was handling the Red Ranger... her brother... just fine.

Astronema stood there, looking below at the fallen Red Ranger, who had hoped to talk her out of this path of destruction. She responded, of course, with quick kicks and fierce staff strikes that had caught Andros off guard until he was downed. The battle lasted all of five minutes so far and to say Astronema was disappointed was an understatement. She figured that if her own "flesh and blood" as Andros had put it, was this easy to take down, then her monsters should have gotten the job done and eliminated the Rangers long ago. They didn't.

Despite the nagging pain flowing through his body, Andros pushed onwards. His attacks were more out of self-defense than they were intended to actually inflict harm to her sister, which was almost funny when he considered her attacks were lethal. He tried pleading with her to end this conflict, tried to get her to see the light and turn away from the darkness she knew for so long, but her response were swift kicks that knocked him down every single time.

For the sake of amusement, away from her fallen brother, Astronema switched monitors to the battle on Earth. However, rather than see her forces conquer the primitive world easily, she would be shocked to see her army getting beaten badly not just by the Space Rangers, but by the human population of Angel Grove City. Her army was losing. A bunch of weakling humans were beating her grand army and were winning, much to her disappointment and utter shock.

She checked for other battles on Earth where her mighty armies waged, expecting signs of victory but was once again let down. In the Far East of Earth, her Velocifighters and streams of giant-sized monsters were easily being taken down by the weakling Japanese army, who had gained experience fighting their own ungodly creations using some sort of Megazord that she had never seen or known Earth to possess. In New York, four mutant turtles were valiantly fighting off Quantrons and showed no signs of backing off or falling down. For most of the major cities of the world, the respective government armies were gathering their forces and dealing with her armies. Even in small farming communities, a small rebellion of farmers with pitchforks and shotguns were suddenly growing backbones to counter the enemy.

Bit by bit, absolute victory was slipping from her fingertips and control of Earth was quickly fading. If the ground battles wasn't proof that Astronema's reign Queen of Evil was starting off on the wrong foot, then the sudden explosion of the second Dark Fortress, along with the sudden withdrawal of her star fleet from a lone Astro Megaship and five Earth ships, confirmed it. She soon switched to other sectors and other battles; she did not like what she was seeing in any of them.

The distant world of Rugalia fended off an entire legion of Velocifighters and Alliance destroyers; a small portion of the fleet already destroyed by an ancient weapon ship she recognized only as the Wraith. On the ground, Alliance walkers and Cyclopsis-class warzords were utterly destroyed by advancing war tanks of the Rugalian Confederacy. This distressing visual forced Astronema to shift to another planet.

The Aradon-led Machine Empire, despite internal political conflicts, were united to remove the Mondo-led Alliance fleets from their homeworld of Gorah Khan. Already, the Empire had scored a significant victory in the form of Mondo's abrupt execution at the hands of former prince Gasket, who had since left the planet for parts unknown.

The viewer shifted to the Nemesis planetoid, where word of Ninjor's death had passed already passed, making conquest of the planet and the Temple of Power to be an easy one. Instead, the Alliance armies (which continue to grow at this moment) were being upheld and beaten by a former Pink Power Ranger who had just ascended to the ancient rank of Sentinel. This was the sort of thing Astronema's Alliance was not only trying to prevent, but also an event that she (or any other modern superpower) was ill-equipped to deal with.

Another flicker and the viewer was on Eltare itself, where a lone Ranger had recently taken down the Alliance leaders responsible for the planet. Although he had been subdued by his enemies, Astronema didn't recognize them and assumed that they weren't Alliance soldiers. On an orbital view of the planet, the rogue armada had successfully taken down the Alliance's orbital fleets, securing the planet.

Astronema switched from planet to planet in order to keep up with the war, where the Alliance forces were slowly being repelled. According to statistics from the main computer, roughly forty-five percent of Alliance forces were being repelled by the defending homeworlds, with a small percentage of those forces having already surrendered. Even though a large portion of her alliance controlled the universe, she was slowly losing her grip. Things were quickly and brutally falling apart.

But it didn't matter, for even if they defeat the armies currently occupying their respective worlds and even if one of her precious Mainframe Cores have been destroyed, she still has millions of troops under her command who will not stop fighting until her grand vision for the universe has been fulfilled. But those images have already planted the seeds of doubt in her mind and suddenly, Astronema was feeling sick to her stomach: a feeling she hadn't felt since her meeting with a mysterious rogue Power Ranger in the cathedral months earlier. Peeking out the door, she noticed the Red Space Ranger slowly regaining his bearing.

"Don't like what you see. Do you, Astronema?" Andros muttered, noticing his sister's distraught state. "You probably expected an easy conquest of Earth, given its primitive methods and its lack of experience in fighting extra-terrestrials. You thought that all you had to do was defeat the Power Rangers."

Astronema did not answer. Just as Andros expected. Got to play this right or else I'll never get to her.

"But if there's one thing I've learned about Terrans, it's that you shouldn't underestimate them," the Red Ranger said as he stood to his feet. "When times are desperate, Terrans are capable of anything and everything possible. Call it what you will, because I've my own share of things. But today, I think I'll call it courage."

"I am the Queen of Evil." The words from Astronema's mouth came out pathetically.

"Queen of Evil? Isn't that a little cliché?" Andros said as a smirk formed on his face. Suddenly, he no longer saw his sister Karone, but the creature called Astronema who had controlled her for a lifetime and who did not take Andros' comments well. Just as he had expected. "All I see is another pathetic lifeform feeding off the weak, just like you're feeding off my sister." He let out a slightly amused chuckle. "So let's get finish this so I can free Karone and fight the real master of evil."

Astronema gnawed her teeth. "I am the real master of evil."

"Are you, now?" Andros said, slightly amused by this banter despite what is at stake. "But you're just a girl. How can you be a master of evil? That's a big man's job. Even I could be a master of evil and I'm the good guy."

That did it. Whatever patience Astronema had left was lost. With her last nerve touched, Astronema blinked from her previous spot to just before Andros and belted the Red Ranger with a fierce uppercut that knocked him through the fencing. Astronema blinked to standing over Andros, raising her foot and holding the high heel over Andros' helmet. Andros instinctually responded by landing a kick to Astronema's back, which staggered her a bit. She regained her composure and as soon as she plucked her staff, she pointed the very tip of the weapon at Andros.

"This is the end for you, my 'brother,'" she said sarcastically, "Time to say goodbye."

He tilted his head and saw the Saber in arms' reach. He quickly glanced back to Astronema, who seemed unaware of the idle weapon next to him and continued her approach. Feeling the end is near, Astronema shot a death bolt from her staff. For an instant, time seemed to slow down in Andros' eyes as he saw the bright red bolt crawling towards his body. Without any other option, Andros plucked his idle Spiral Saber from the ground and used it to deflect the beam back at Astronema, which struck the cybernetic implant on her forehead and caused sparks shoot from it. Astronema stood there dazed as streams of red energy briefly flashed around her body, then dropped to her knees before losing consciousness and dropping to the floor.

Andros stood there momentarily in victory, then a worried expression formed on his concealed face when he noticed that she hadn't moved. In a panic, he dropped the weapon held firmly in his hand and dropped down to check on her sister. When he checked for a pulse, he found none. He merely glanced to her forehead to see the small implants fall off and vanish before it hit the ground. He tried to call to her to wake her up, but the words had no effect and Astronema... Karone laid peacefully still.

_What have I done?_

Andros knelt there in stunned silence. Throughout his entire life as a space traveler and later as a Space Ranger, one of his top priorities was to find his missing sister. He didn't care what it took, he was determined to find her. Now he found her... only to lose her again by his own hands. Just the thought of it made Andros weep inside, but before he could shed a tear, he felt a hand grab his shoulder and toss him towards a wall. When he broke out of his momentary trance, he glanced at the door and saw it had been forced open.

"She was your own sister!" he heard Ecliptor's voice bellow in anger. "What did you do to her?!"

"I-It was an accident," Andros argued, but it came out weakly.

Ecliptor dashed at the fallen Astronema, pushing the Red Ranger aside. Just as Andros did a short while ago, Ecliptor tried to shake Astronema out of unconsciousness, calling to her. And just like Andros, they had no effect and Karone was still. The bodyguard then turned to Andros and the Kerovan could see in Ecliptor's eyes a rage he had never seen before.

"You, Red Ranger," Ecliptor growled accusingly, "I'm going to make sure you suffer for this outrage if it's the last thing I do!"

Andros glanced worriedly at Karone, who had not moved a muscle since being knocked down. He turned to find Ecliptor charging at him and instinctively knocked him down with a superkick to the chest, watching as Astronema's bodyguard was flung to the wall, hitting it with such force that sparks flew.

"_Andros, you must not delay,_" Zordon said, "_You must shatter my energy tube._"

Andros was still hesitant, but he knew it was the only way. His momentary distract gave Ecliptor the opening he needed and again he charged at Andros with his sword held high. Andros swung his own Spiral Saber and watched as it collided with the sword, shattering it on impact. And when the Spiral Saber's drill blade shattered Ecliptor's blade, it also slashed through his right hand, severing it and the remainder of the sword from his body. With Ecliptor stunned by what has happened, Andros delivered another swipe across the bodyguard's chest, sending him flying across the room and smashing through what remained of the barrier.

"_Listen to me, Andros,_" the sage said, "_It is your duty as a Power Ranger to save the Universe, no __matter what the cost. Now is the time_."

Andros gripped onto his saber and turned to the sage. He took one close hard look at Zordon before turning to the Spiral Saber in his hand, which seemed all the more heavier. Despite thinking otherwise, the Ranger knew fully well that this was the only way. And may the consequences be damned.

"I'll miss you, old friend," he said, clutching onto his saber.

Ecliptor tilted his head towards Andros as he raised his weapon. He got up to his feet and dashed at the Ranger, but sensed that it was too late as the tip of the Red Ranger's spiral saber penetrated the Eltarian sage's tube and shattered the protective glass that contained Zordon's life essence. With nothing to hold it in, the energy contained within the former tube shot out and as a result, Ecliptor took the full brunt of the energy - effectively turning his corporeal form into dust. All that remained of Astronema's bodyguard was the metallic implants and a small memory chip that laid on top of the sand pile - the first victim of Zordon's Zero Hour.

Then the room went white.

The countdown has ended... the destruction has begun.

**End ONE**


	16. Zero

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Zero**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

For the longest time imaginable, there was the war between good and evil – a war that is generally believed to have begun many eons ago. Fought across the many cosmos, under many grueling conditions and guises, the war has left a terrible mark on those who have fought within it. All worlds and galaxies that have been a participant in the war, directly or otherwise, had experienced the war in various forms. But the true war of good and evil was fought spanning dozens of worlds, both sides united under the belief that the world was black and white.

As time passed, the war escalated, stagnated, and reignited to the point where a final battle was fought, where the victor would finally vanquish. The United Alliance of Evil - now truly united - would attack on all sides and were at the very point where they were close to gaining that total dominance of the universe that had long eluded them all this time. They were all-powerful, they were numerous, and they were vicious in their assaults. But beneath all the beliefs that they would finally destroy the forces of good, a simple truth emerged. A truth which had hit Ecliptor just between the moments that the Red Ranger had destroyed Zordon's tube and that holy light had turned him into sand. A sad truth with a simple message...

The Alliance never had a chance...

---

From the ravaged bridge of the Astro Megaship, its lone occupant had seen the energy wave emerge from the last remaining Dark Fortress, watching the wave pass through everything. All attacking cruisers passing through the wave were suddenly floating in space endlessly, Velocifighters were instantly destroyed, and all traces of the Alliance would soon be wiped off the face of the Earth. But even as an automaton, Alpha 6 felt the wave for what it was; the energy of Zordon scattered about the cosmos, doing its final act. For a moment, he grieved the Eltarian, whom he met briefly during the Turbo ceremony and during construction of the Robot Ranger project. He knew very little of the man personally, but knew of his exploits.

If he could, he would shed a tear for the loss of a great hero. But before he could utter any words, he heard the footsteps of the former Rangers whom he had managed to teleport in from the other Dark Fortress shortly before its destruction.

"Rangers! Thank goodness you're all okay!" he squeaked in relief.

"Not all of us," Justin said, then showed Alpha the green communicator that had belonged to Adam. "Could you get a lock on him? We have to get him off that Fortress."

Alpha lowered his head, confirming what the Rangers already knew. "I'm sorry, Rangers. The fortress exploded shortly after I teleported you out. There wouldn't have been enough time to lock on to another life sign. If Adam had stayed behind, then he..." The words didn't follow. Sadness overwhelmed the bridge, a dead silence enveloping them all.

"We should have never left him behind," Rocky whimpered, "We shouldn't have let him stay."

"He chose to stay," Justin said, "He chose to sacrifice himself for our survival."

"That doesn't make it right," Rocky retorted, "He threw away his life and we just stood there like idiots allowing him to do this."

"What could we have done?" Billy asked, "Would Adam and his sudden reckless attitude listen to reason?"

"He has before," said Rocky, on the verge of tears, "Or we could have brought him back kicking and screaming. But..." His words came out softly to the point where no one could hear them. Finally, he said aloud, "We should have done something."

With that, he removed the two Zeoniser units from his wrists and threw them across the floor of the bridge. The others looked on in shock as Rocky turned his back and walked out of the bridge, too distraught to even look at them. As Billy and Justin approached various posts, Jason stared ahead into the empty space that was occupied by an enemy fortress. After a while, Jason slumped towards a nearby chair, his eyes still looking into the void. Bad enough they lost Adam, but then adding to the misery was the gained knowledge that their mentor had given his life to rid the universe of the Alliance. He wouldn't allow the truth to be acknowledged... he didn't want to believe it, but in the end, he knew. He didn't know how he knew... he just did.

First Adam. Now Zordon. Both gone for good.

For the longest time, the hardest decision Jason ever believed he had to make was choosing between saving Tommy's dwindling Green Ranger powers and saving his life. Although it was something that he bounced back from and although things had turned out well, that memory was still in the back of his mind every time he had. He knew this would hinder his abilities as a leader... part of the reason why Zordon chose Tommy to lead the team when he became the White Ranger. As time passed, the pain he bore as a result of that decision slowly faded away and soon it became a big memory. But now that decision paled in comparison to what had just happened.

Adam Park made the decision to stay behind. That didn't hurt Jason much, but what did hurt was that he didn't do anything to stop Adam. In a way, Rocky was right. They chose to leave a friend behind... and in the end, it meant nothing. Another man's sacrifice was doing more to end this war. It should have been a good thing. But to Jason, it simply meant more bad news to share with the others.

Suddenly, he remembered why he enjoyed retirement from the Ranger life...

---

_Vika_

Rita Repulsa had remained within the small base camp established on Vika shortly after the planet's conquest, look over several reports and keeping track of new occurances. While she stays put, most of her armies and forces had already spread to other planetary bodies close by. Each passing hour, she receives news of conquest and easy victories. Not even the Gold Ranger of Triforia and his fleets were able to withstand her armies' powerful onslaughts. What pleased her especially was that this was truly her army. There was no Dark Specter to fear, no Astronema barking orders at every turn, nor was there a Lord Zedd looking over her shoulder and taking credit for her victories. Even Goldar was nowhere to be seen and had been missing since he had witnessed her execution of the doppelganger Flinn, although Rita didn't care for the useless monkey. This was Rita's time and her chance at immortality.

Rita minded her own business when she had sense the coming of a great presence towards this planet. She couldn't quite make out what it was, but she knew that it was too big to ignore. So she slowly got up and walked outside the small tent where she had taken refuge and looked beyond the barren wasteland that had been the battlefield. It was then that she looked up in the sky and saw a very wide, gold-colored energy wave flying at incredible speeds towards the planet surface. She couldn't quite make out what it was and had no idea of what it was capable of until the wave smashed upon the surface. She had witnessed the wave of light enveloping her armies and quickly turning them to piles of sand. The wave was only seconds away from reaching her. With no means of escaping this powerful force, Rita bowed her head slowly, uttered a few silent words to herself, and then raised her head to face her fate.

Rita shrieked as the wave of light pass through her physical form, forcing purple fumes to escape as the witch's body slowly lost its color and turned white. When the wave completely passed through, the body was nothing more than a stone statue which quickly shattered soon after, turning to a small mound of grey dust. Shortly thereafter, the dust whisked away with the winds, revealing a beautiful young woman in a fetal position, wearing nothing more than white and red robes. The woman was shedding tears of joy... tears of relief that the curse she had endured for the better part of her lifetime was finally lifted.

---

Meanwhile, far beyond the battlefield among the mounds of fine sand that was once the invading Alliance armies, a lone blue-skinned Titan warrior, wearing nothing more than a gray wrap around his waist and thighs, roamed the land without direction and without grief. He had wondered why he didn't share the same fate as those around him, as his life had been committed to serving the dark masters. At this point, he didn't really care if he knew or not. All he cared about was taking advantage of this second chance he had been grant and start over.

---

"Wake up, Aurico."

Aurico, the Red Ranger of Aquitar, woke up slowly as he heard the voice calling to him. Everything seemed blurry at first, but when he gained full awareness, he found himself floating in a vat of chemicals, staring at the ceiling of what appeared to be an Aquitian medical bay. This confused him, as the last thing he remembered was being beaten down by members of Divatox's pirate cartel. He turned to see an Aquitian garbed in his medical tunic, smiling over him.

"The other Rangers," he said coarsely, "are they well?"

The medic gave Aurico a confirming smile. "We managed to get you into these regenerative chambers as soon as we found you." He looked up at a nearby display. "It was amazing. Some sort of wave had passed through and wiped out all the Alliance forces. When we discovered your last known co-ordinates, we've managed to locate you in time before you would have died." He glanced back at the Red Ranger. "Curious that the wave had a purifying effect to it, but I've felt an essence there. I cannot possibly explain it."

"I felt it too," Aurico grieved, knowing exactly what he meant. "I felt it too."

---

_Eltare._

Buried within merciless, tireless, and brutal soldiers of fortune, Thomas Oliver had found himself pinned to the ground, unable to free himself from the grip of those who had come to avenge the recent slaying of their master and lord Zedd. It was a beating that had lasted a minute since he was pummeled from behind.

Through the cracks of the ceiling, he saw a thin line of light that was growing bigger with each passing second. As the line of light grew bigger, the darkness of chamber quickly faded as illumination grew brighter, drawing the attention of the soldiers of evil as they looked up at the light. For the next five seconds, they saw the ceiling light up and covered their eyes as the golden wave fell upon them. In an instant, all the soldiers around Thomas turned into sand while he yelled in pain as the light worked on him. Thomas placed both hands over his ears, trying desperately to block off the pain that the light caused. Light filled the room and Thomas' surroundings vanished, replaced by various images of the past.

He relieved his early youth, traveling with his foster parents from city to city before settling in Angel Grove. He relieved the beginnings of his Ranger career, working as an operative for Rita Repulsa and coming close to destroying Zordon and the original Power Rangers. He relieved the moment where he was placed in a trance to steal a powerful artifact and present it to Lord Zedd. But the more painful images were those of recent times: watching the crater that used to be Kat's house, his dark turn to uncover the truth, his battle with the clone. All of these images were images of Thomas' road to evil, a road he had concluded with his recent killing of Zedd.

All these negative images had converged together to form a solid ball in Thomas' mind. He saw the ball shrink down in size until it was the size of a pea and vanished. Thomas broke out of his trance and found himself on his feet... alone in the old Command Center. Thomas couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the room in its functioning glory... it had been destroyed years ago. How could it be standing here? Thomas glanced upwards towards the energy tube where Zordon would be, but he wasn't there. Instead, he saw a floating person hidden in shadows watching over him. He couldn't make out any of the being's physical features, but for some reason Thomas seemed entranced by her presence. It almost seems as though he had met her before somewhere. He wanted to ask who she was or what was going on, but while his mouth moved, no words came out. It was then that Thomas discovered his voice was gone... and it didn't really bother him. He's been in this situation before.

Suddenly, the environment shifted and Thomas no longer found himself in the Command Center, but in the old Power Chamber during his Zeo days. He briefly studied his surroundings before turning back to the being who resided in Zordon's chamber. The scene shifted again and the old chamber was replaced with the newer chamber during his final days as a Ranger. Once again, Thomas saw the being in the energy tube, still shrouded in darkness. Finally, the room faded completely and was replaced with white light where only the Ranger and the shadowed being stood face to face.

The figure slowly approached Thomas, who still tried to speak but couldn't. When the two were only a couple feet apart from each other, the figure raised a hand forward, as if it was reaching for something. Thomas took a step forward to get closer to the figure. But before he could get a good look at the being's face, he was shrouded in bright light and before he knew it, he found himself back on the throne room of the palace, alone in the chamber among mounds of sand. He got to his feet and ran out the door, where he was immediately greeted with a view of the city outside. Where there were Quantrons, Ranger Wraiths, and other foot soldiers, there were now growing piles of sand. Where there were giant warships covering the sky, now there were bright red clouds reflecting the shine of the red sun. Thomas didn't understand what had happened. Despite the state of confusion he was in, he knew that this was a good thing.

---

_Nemesis_

Kimberly felt sorry for the soldiers - not because she was handling them rather well, but because of the fate that they would suffer. She had known of the coming wave's presence before she even saw it coming. She didn't know how. In fact, there were a lot of things she didn't know about the powers Ninjor had bestowed upon her. But that didn't matter to her at the moment. What mattered was survival, something she was doing pretty well for the moment. But the soldiers continued to pile on her faster than she could kill her. But that's okay, she thought, because in a few seconds, none of them will be alive.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the wave in question. Her continued fixation on the approaching wave of light had forced the Alliance army to take notice as well. Their reaction was varied; some stood there, some ran as fast as possible, while others stupidly covered their faces to block the light. All good, common sense tactics that would do them no good here and now. By the time the wave hit the surface, they would soon be gone.

_And good riddance to them too_, Kimberly thought.

Kim had felt the brunt of the golden wave passing through her very beings, her hand extended outwards as if she was trying to reach for something. She stood there for a moment before slowing glancing at her surroundings. Where there had been soldiers of evil, now stood mounds of coarse sand continuing to pile up. She then turned to Ninjor's temple and watch the remnants of the temple slowly faded away, leaving behind only a rock formation similar to how it was when the Rangers had first encountered the Temple.

That didn't matter to her, because Kim had felt his very being passing through her. She didn't know what had happened, nor did she know how it was possible, but she felt his presence. A single tear formed and ran down her cheek before Kim wiped it off quickly. She then walked to the formation and vanished in a shade of pink light.

---

_Earth_

The battle in the city streets of Angel Grove had ended just as abruptly as all the others; with a wave of bright light crashing through the surface and enveloping all in its path. The light had turned the swarms of Quantrons and Piranhatrons into piles of sand and ash. The light had also forced the morphed Rangers to return their normal forms and when the light had vanished, the crowd broke into a roaring applause, cheering this miraculous victory over the forces of evil. The Rangers were soon embraced by the citizens as well as one another, as they all survived this battle with their courage. Among the celebration, Cassie noticed that Ashley had hid herself behind a wall and quickly followed. When she found her, she noticed that Ashley was looking towards the sky. Unbeknownst to her, the other Rangers followed as well.

"Ash..." Cassie said, sounding almost like a wimper.

"What about Andros?" Ashley asked as the others joined them, "What do you suppose happened to him?"

"And Zordon," Zhane added, worried. "And Astronema."

"Could they have been wiped out?" TJ asked rhetorically. "Just like everyone else?"

Soon, the cheering would stop as a loud hovering sound could be heard. Soon enough, the demorphed Space Rangers and citizens of Angel Grove saw the Alliance flagship, the other remaining Dark Fortress, slowly descending from the heavens. Its outer hull damage and the fact that a good chunk of the Fortress was incinerated in space did not affect the imposing image it instilled on the people, who looked on in stunned silence.

"Astronema," Cassie mouthed, "She's won."

Ashley hung her head in fearful realization. Andros.

As soon as the Dark Fortress settled on the ground, various portions of its hull and armor erupted in explosions, startling the crowd who stepped back to avoid any pieces of debris. The main entryway slowly opened up, forming a ramp of roughly fifty meters. From the dim, orange light emerged the Red Space Ranger holding an unconscious Astronema, his emotionless stature betraying his agonizing soul as he slowly walked down towards the crowd holding his sister in his arms. The Rangers shouted excitedly and ran to meet with him, but Andros couldn't hear them. His mind was on Karone, who laid there peacefully. Andros laid her body on the ground and dropped to his knees, unable to believe and accept that he got his sister back, only to lose her again... for good.

Andros closed his eyes as a means of closing out the world around, tears streaming from his shut eyes down his cheeks and dropping off to land on his fallen sister's forehead. The fallen tears did not remain on her for long and without his knowing, Astronema slowly began to fade away, leaving behind a young, blonde-haired girl in a simple black jumpsuit. The girl's eyes slowly opened and the first sight to greet her was her tear-stricken brother. Slowly, she lifted her free hand and wiped the stream of tears of Andros' face, causing him to open his eyes and look on in shock.

"Karone? Is it really you?"

The girl simply nodded and slowly got up to sit. She looked around at the crowd of people and the destructive scenery that had surrounded her.

"What's going on here?" she asked innocently. "Why are you crying?"

Andros gave her sister a firm hug. "It's a long story, Karone. One that's finally over."

**End ZERO**


	17. Epilogue

**POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Epilogue**

Written by DTM666

Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn

**Disclaimer:** The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.

---

A week had passed since the war with the United Alliance of Evil had ended. During that time, the Space Rangers had helped out in the resettling of space colony KO-35. In the mind of the Red Ranger, Andros, he was simply glad to be back home... now that he had found his sister and brought her back into the light, all seemed well and there wasn't anything that could dampen his days.

Except, of course, for the fact that the team he had worked with and formed a bond with are returning to Earth and chances are they wouldn't meet. He and Ashley, the Yellow Ranger with whom he had shared a budding relationship, had kept to themselves for the better part of an hour, discussing various things. Ashley had asked him if he was sure that he didn't want to come with them, but Andros only told her that KO-35 was his home. He had to stay and help rebuild. Ashley accepted that answer, but he knew that she was disappointed.

When his Terran friends boarded, the colonists had gathered to bid them farewell, Karone, Zhane, and Andros among them. He had given each Ranger a nod as they boarded the ship. Then his eyes glanced at Ashley, who stared back for a moment before lowering the blast doors. Suddenly, he was having doubts on where he belonged and Karone had noticed it. Andros couldn't understand why he was feeling uneasy staying behind. KO-35 was his home, it's where he belonged. Wasn't it?

He turned to Zhane and saw that he was feeling the same thing. Even though he had been stuck in a block of ice for the better part of two years, he too had regrets. Neither of them could understand why. Weren't they home? Weren't they where they truly belonged?

There weren't any spoken words the whole time, mostly thoughts and facial expressions between the three of them. Finally, Commander Kinwon approached them and the three turned their attention to the older Kerovan.

"You belong with them now," he said matter-of-factly, "We'll be fine without you. Go."

That was it. No arguments, no second thoughts. That's all it took. And with that said, Andros, his sister, and his best friend decided to return to Earth... with the friends that had stuck with him during the past year.

---

From his citadel on Gorah Khan, Machine Emperor Aradon surveyed the surrounding cities and industrial zones, amazed that little of the battles with Mondo has damaged the city itself. Most of the battles had taken place in space and on-board the Defense Satellite Space Station where Aradon had killed Mondo in deadly combat.

While he would try and cleanse the name of the Empire, he knew there were still those who opposed his reign. So he declared the territories of the Machine Empire quarantined; any ship entering or exiting Machine space would be destroyed on sight regardless of the circumstances. It seems anti-productive of Aradon, but for now this is the only way. He still had enemies within the Empire, including Mondo's generals who are probably itching for a chance to avenge their leader. But today, Aradon isn't concerned with those things.

Today, he has an empire to rebuild...

---

The following week after the end of the war took its toll on Rocky DeSantos, who had returned home from attending his childhood friend's funeral. It was a simple, traditional funeral arrangement, but he knew Adam wouldn't have wanted any other way. He recognized some of the people in attendance: friends, family, former Rangers, and whatnot. Rather than engage in conversation, Rocky mostly kept to himself. Those who knew him saw that he was a fairly different man from the outgoing person he usually is, but Rocky couldn't help it. He had lost a friend.

When the service ended, he quietly walked out of sight without attracting attention. He had walked along several streets until he returning the karate school that he and Adam opened some time ago. Pulling out his keys, he opened the front doors and walked through, making sure to lock the door behind. He went into one of the smaller rooms, where he had found Billy's Portal-Com device that had been used to infiltrate the Lunar Palace before the battle broke out. He stared at it intently with rage, gingerly grabbing a nearby sledgehammer that had been laying on a table. When the building rage reached its point, Rocky wildly swung the hammer and knocked down the two towers comprising the device. With the towers down, Rocky continue to pound them with the head of the hammer repeatedly until the casing began to break apart.

Rocky tossed the hammer aside, inadvertently punching a hole through a wall with it. He then grabbed the broken pieces of the Portal-Com units and tossed along the same wall, which punched a larger hole. Rocky slowly took steps towards and with a deep breath and tears flowing down his face, he stepped through the hole where he would continue his own mourning...

---

Having been officially declared dead a week ago despite lack of concrete evidence, an equally lavishing funeral was prepared for Katherine Hillard - not a casualty of war, but the unfortunate victim of a vengeful plot against another. Although there was no body to bury, personal belongings and other items important to Kat were buried in a sealed casket. The funeral and wake had a big turnout, with several hundred people appearing to pay final respects to their honored dead. Some former Rangers could be seen, along with the current Space Rangers, who were clad in standard uniform. They found it bad enough having to attend one funeral, but a second funeral slowly made the ramifications of the war slowly sink in. After about an hour of service, the crowd disappeared, save for one person who stayed behind.

Thomas Oliver, former Ranger and love interest of Kat, fought back the urge to break in tears when he was surrounded by people. When he was alone, he allowed them to flow. Despite the lavish arrangements and declaration of death, Thomas was still unwilling to believe that Kat was dead. Maybe, over time, he would get used to it... at least, he thought he would get used to it. But another feeling crept into his being, replacing the sorrow that he was in. It was the feeling that he had somehow failed her.

Failure. The very nature of that feeling chills his spine because it was now a part of him despite the claims of others. He had almost been considered godly by admirers and fellow Rangers, something that had made him complacent in his position. He had been through power losses, broken relationships, roster changes, and many retirements. His exploits had deemed him legendary. Some who were in the know concerning his Rangership considered him to be the very best. Somehow, he had truly believed that and he had developed a complacency of things, believing that no matter how bad things got, it'd get better in the end.

That belief had cost him his love.

With a bitter sorrow, he knelt down to Kat's grave and spoke a silent prayer. He had silently apologized in not being there when he should have and also that he wasn't worthy of being forgiven for such an oversight. Instead, Thomas made a personal vow to both her and to himself that he would try to rectify the mistake he believes himself responsible for. It would take him years, perhaps even until the day he dies. He knows this to be true, but this is what he believes is the right thing to do. Someday, he may ask for her forgiveness and hopefully, he would be able to find peace.

"Excuse me. Thomas Oliver?"

Thomas was taken aback by the sudden voice and turned to find a middle-aged man in a black suit standing over him. Thomas slowly got to his feet and patted the dirt off his pants before addressing the gentleman. "Yes," he replied, "And you are?"

The man gave a warm smile and extended his hand. "My name is Anton Mercer, CEO of Mercer Industries. I have a proposition that just might interest you..."

---

He walked into the local Limpy Eye bar located deep within the grungy suburbs of his homeworld Titan. Wearing nothing more than rugged loose pants and a shirt made of thin chain strands, he studied the place for a moment, finding it to be a bit worn down. Not like the elegant workplaces he had been in for the past few millenia, but in his heart, the change of environment was a welcome change. He slowly approached the bartender; a strange little creature with large ears and rough ridges on his forehead. The bartender noticed the Titan from the corner of his eye and approached him. It was at a closer glance that the bartender recognized the face of his latest visitor.

"You're him, aren't you? You're the Titan bodyguard of Zedd," the bartender said calmly, more surprised than afraid. "As much as it is an honor to have a warrior of high regard such as yourself, I have to ask... aren't you dead?"

The Titan merely grinned. "News of my ill-fated death were greatly exaggerated. In any case, I am in need of employment. I have heard you are in need of a bodyguard. Perhaps we can come to an agreement."

"You're wrong, my friend," the bartender said, "I'm not looking for a bodyguard. I just found him." He extended his hand to the Titan and gave a wry smile. "That is, if you wish to be."

The Titan considered the offer for a moment and after five seconds, shook the bartender's hand. A new chapter in his life has begun...

---

Two months have passed since the Alliance Wars officially ended. During that time, many events had occurred.

Despite having missed several weeks worth of classes, former Power Ranger Thomas Oliver had managed to pass most of his paleontology courses with flying colors, with partial thanks to the assistance of an industrialist by the name of Anton Mercer, who had agreed to help Thomas with his studies until he graduates so he could hire the youngster as part of his organization. There is no doubt in the mind of several of Angel Grove University's most distinguished professors that there would be a doctorate in Oliver's future, assuming he keeps up with the high grades. His identity as a former Power Ranger is known only to a select few.

---

The Space Ranger team retired as active superheroes, allowing each member of the team to pursue their own interests. TJ began a promising career playing major league baseball, Carlos took a job coaching soccer, Ashley studies architecture (a subject she never had much interest in, but found to have some talent in), Cassie pursued a singing career, while Andros, Zhane, and Karone, aliens from another world yet as human as "Terran apple pie" (blame Zhane for the poor joke, though Andros at one point), went on a world tour to explore the sights that Earth had to offer as well as try to help with the healing process to remove the emotional scars that Karone had endured.

To that end, the Astro Megaship was officially retired as an active vessel and, with most of the critical components stripped off or locked away, was converted into a museum piece on Earth for curious visitors who wanted to check out a piece of Power Ranger history. An expert engineer and mechanic by the name of Damon Henderson was hired as the museum caretaker.

---

With the evil magic and security measures nullified by Zordon's wave, scientists and technicians of the Galactic Space Agency worked on dismantling the remains of the Dark Fortress, as well as studying and reverse-engineering its advanced alien technology for use on its own series of space craft, including the prototype space colony codenamed Terra Venture. It is said that with the new technology at their disposal, the colony could see launch within a few months time at the earliest as opposed to another five years under normal development.

---

Via his personal one-man shuttle loaned by the NASADA group, former Power Ranger William Cranston frequently makes stops between Aquitar and Earth to assist with the various repair functions as well as attaining permissions to use Aquitian technologies to assist in the creation of a new government-sanctioned Ranger team under the Lightspeed Rescue division. William had also been keeping tabs with the Japanese JETMAN division through intermediaries, offering advice on morphing technology. The more peculiar issue was that all this stemmed from word of his Power Eagle high school project (where he had succeeded in morphing a rubber chicken into a suited eagle) and not his Power Ranger exploits, which is known only to a select few.

---

The five pilots of the Japanese Arwing squadron were made instant celebrities in Japan, earning most of that nation's highest honors. Most of all, it was enough of an influence for the government to provide funding for the research and development of the JETMAN division of extra-terrestrial countermeasures... in case such an invasion were to occur again, they would be ready to strike and defend this planet. The five pilots are considered to be prime candidates for the initial JETMAN task force.

---

Power Karate, the karate school owned and operated by former Power Ranger Rocky DeSantos and the late Adam Park was re-opened a week after the war was declared over, only to be shut down and sold off to an anonymous consortium after roughly three days of operation. All of this had happened despite the fact that the dojo was making its money and wasn't in any danger of bankruptcy. No one had seen Mr. DeSantos since then, some having speculated that he had fallen off the face of the Earth.

---

News reports surrounding the mysterious appearance of an unconscious blonde woman in Surrey Hills, Australia broke out. Although her identity was concealed to avoid any panic among those close, many believe that this woman was a native of the town who had moved to America a few years prior. A day after the news broke, a group of suited men - claiming to be government officials - acquired her body and taken it away. Their present location is unknown.

---

On the planetoid known as Nemesis, a former Ranger meditates in the Temple of Power, hoping to learn more about her newfound power and her new role. She doesn't concern herself so much with returning home as she has been charged with a new purpose. She hopes to someday find out what that purpose is.

---

Despite the great victory of the Alliance Wars and the battle won on the planet Eltare, the homeworld of the late Zordon is in disputed space. The past year has severely divided the planet's populace into small factions. Although the planet is slowly on the verge of rebuilding, it is no longer considered to be the most important piece of real estate in the galaxy. And without Zordon to hold the planet together, it would be a long time before prosperity returns to Eltare and its people.

---

Three months had passed since _Project Prodigy_ had been initiated, which was a month before the closing battles of the Alliance War. William Cranston, the organizer of this project, had deemed it fortunate that the final assault of the United Alliance of Evil had not resulted in the discovery of the project or the Fourth Chamber by evil forces. Even if they had found it, it would have been too late; as the energy wave of light - codenamed _Zero Hour_ - would promptly dispose of them, turning them into dust.

In the ruins of the Command Center/Power Chamber, the remaining flames finally died out. Pieces of the outer shell's rubble vanish. Debris suddenly turn into nothingness. Computer circuit boards melt and merge with the sandy foundation upon which the structure had been formed. Damaged energy tubes turn into dust, with the wind subsequently blowing the pile away. This continued for a short while until nothing remained except for a solid plateau and an item of extreme power.

The Zeo Crystal. The source of power for the Zeo Power Rangers materialized in the center of the plateau, slowly floated downward and lightly tapped the ground. Almost instantly, the Zeo Crystal began to fade, its various energies being shot around the place. Some beams shot onto the plateau, while others were shot far away. Presumably to the holders of the smaller subcrystals, where the Zeo power would continue to be of use to them.

It wasn't long before the Zeo Crystal had vanished, leaving behind an orb of energy that dropped through the plateau, causing it to glow a faint light-blue. When the glowing died down, things seemed calm and quiet. Only the sound of slow brick laying could heard close by and only the slow materialization of a familiar wall would be seen on the plateau.

_Project Prodigy_ continues...

**The End**


End file.
